Opinion | Fuel Ban On Old Vehicles: A Misguided Move In India’s Fight Against Air Pollution
Effective 1 July 2025, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) imposed a ban in Delhi on issuing fuel to end-of-life (EOL) or overage vehicles—diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years. As part of this measure, such vehicles were not only to be denied fuel but also impounded, irrespective of the states they were registered in.
According to the original directive, Delhi was to be the first to refuse fuelling these vehicles using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) camera technology at fuel stations. The ban was to be extended to the NCR in a staggered manner, starting with high-vehicle-density districts of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat from 1 November, and to the rest of the NCR from 1 April 2026.
The ban, a major anti-pollution measure, fizzled out within three days, owing to massive public backlash coupled with a climbdown by the Delhi government, which had originally supported the move. Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa hailed the ban’s postponement as a “people-centric decision" and a big relief for thousands of citizens who were unfairly impacted.
The New D-Day
On Tuesday, 8 July, the CAQM extended the date of implementation of the fuelling ban for EOL vehicles to 1 November 2025. The reasons cited for the postponement included technological shortcomings in the ANPR system and the need to enable simultaneous implementation in Delhi and five high-vehicle-density districts in the NCR—Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat.
Kneejerk Reaction
I posit that both the original ban, which fizzled out, and the newly proposed implementation date are ill-advised knee-jerk reactions, because:
One, Age of Vehicle Is Not a Rational Criterion: Merely relying on the overriding criterion of age to declare a vehicle overaged has no scientific basis. Driving a new car in the congested metropolises of India creates far more pollution than a well-maintained, less-used older vehicle.
Instructively, retiring EOL vehicles based solely on the dubious criterion of age is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Two, Non-Provision of Sustainable and Affordable Public Transport: Indubitably, the operation of EOL vehicles in Delhi was banned by the NGT in 2014, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. However, governments failed to provide commuters with viable alternatives in the form of sustainable and affordable public transport, both bus-based and rail-based. In the absence of these, personalised vehicles became the default choice for citizens.
Key Pollutants
Of the world’s 100 cities with the worst air pollution, 74 are in India. Ironically, Delhi has the poorest air quality among capital cities. The key question is: what are the primary drivers of pollution in the country? Here they are:
Chasing The Mirage
Pollution in Delhi now is a yearlong existential crisis. Whenever the crisis worsens,........
© News18
