Opinion Delhi’s fuel ban for end-of-life vehicles is a good first step towards pollution reduction

While this is a necessary first step, it is a part of a series of actions planned to clean the city’s air. Of the 1.5 crore vehicles registered in Delhi over the last few decades, many older vehicles have already exited the roads for various commercial, technical and regulatory reasons. Based on existing research and studies that have estimated this “survival rate” of vehicles for different types of cities, we estimate that between 83,000 and 4 lakh vehicles registered in Delhi could have exceeded their regulated EoL and still be plying the roads. In comparison, in total, Delhi currently has between 52 lakh and 68 lakh vehicles that actively ply, and is likely to add about 8 lakh vehicles in 2025 from new registrations.

Moreover, this directive could face some implementation gaps and leakages. Many vehicle owners could sidestep the ban by simply refuelling across the border. In the absence of a coordinated and well-resourced interstate enforcement framework, such measures could shift the problem to another jurisdiction, or such vehicles could resurface. The directive signals intent to drive change, but must be supported by studies that help attribute impact and establish drawbacks and effectiveness, which can make a case for such interventions nationwide.

Delhi needs multi-pronged action

The restriction on the fuelling of end-of-life vehicles in Delhi firmly communicates the government’s intent to curtail pollution from inefficient and polluting vehicles. This is consequential as existing studies suggest that transport could contribute up to 40 per cent of Delhi’s PM pollution. This ban must cascade into the following logical next steps to truly clean up transportation emissions.

First, the end-of-life policy must be enforced in the entire NCR without much staggering. Much like how the BS IV and BS VI standards were rolled out in tandem throughout the rest of the NCR, this directive must also be implemented in the entirety of the region before the start of winter. Given the smaller share of EoL vehicles, the impact will be measurable and attributable when it is implemented over a larger control area. This would also benefit adjoining NCR districts during the severely polluted winter months. Scaling it will remain a logistical challenge. However, CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) can call on the necessary executive and quasi-judicial powers vested in it to coordinate and enforce the ban.

Second, India’s approach to vehicle scrapping needs better coordination between states to ensure that leakages of EoL vehicles from one jurisdiction to another do not happen. Vehicles that reach EoL in Delhi can re-register in other parts of the country, possibly even without proving their “fitness”.

While Delhi introduced its scrapping policy in 2018, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notified a national one in 2021. With nearly 175 registered vehicle scrapping facilities, only 120,000 private vehicles across the country have signed up for being scrapped since August 2022 in these facilities. Nearly a third of these applications are from Delhi. The capital’s prominent position, on account of the policy push to phase out EoL vehicles, is no surprise, but it also means the rest of India is lagging behind in how they force “unfit” vehicles off the road. To put this in context, of the vehicles sold between 2001 and 2023 across India, nearly 13 crore vehicles should have left the roads as per survival rate studies. Where do these vehicles end up, and how do we trace their life and afterlife? Tightening the noose elsewhere will increase the effectiveness of the ban.

Finally, lowering emissions from the transport sector needs multi-pronged action — including ambitious electrification mandates and emissions reduction from private transport. Taxation and charges that reflect the utilisation level of vehicles are crucial policy tools to help achieve this objective. More used vehicles cause more congestion and more pollution. Therefore, they must pay for their environmental impact and infrastructure degradation. These variable charges could vary based on time-of-day, location-zone, ward or street, and could also be reflected in insurance premiums. Private electric vehicles could be given proportional waivers. When combined with Delhi’s commendable aspirations to grow its electric bus fleet and ensure 100 per cent electrification of public transport, these could meaningfully reduce transport’s contribution to air pollution.

Karthik Ganesan is Fellow and Director, Strategic Partnerships, and Arpan Patra is Programme Associate at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Views are personal