Starting July 1, Delhi will stop supplying fuel to all overage vehicles. As part of this effort, the Transport Department, the Traffic Police, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will work together to identify hotspots that see a high number of such vehicles attempting to pass through the city. These vehicles will be identified by ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras that have been installed at 498 fuel stations, officials said Friday.
According to directions issued earlier this year by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), all end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) — 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol ones — will be denied fuel starting Tuesday. From October 31, the plan comes into effect in five high-vehicle-density districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat.
Niharika Rai, Secretary-Cum-Commissioner, Transport Department, said the number of ELVs arriving at a fuel station will be noted, as it could be a proxy for vehicle owners residing in nearby areas. Targeted action will be taken at such fuel stations, Rai said. “Joint teams of the transport department, traffic police and MCD will be deployed at all identified fuel stations reporting a high number of such vehicles.”
Ajay Chaudhary, Special Commissioner (Traffic), Delhi Police, said, “The departments are still assessing how the teams should be deployed as a few fuel stations work around the clock, but others work for a few hours.”
He emphasised that there will be no loopholes and the plan will be implemented stringently, as all staff at fuel stations have also been trained.
The ANPR cameras have been installed at 498 fuel stations in Delhi, including 382 petrol or diesel stations and 116 CNG filling stations, and 3 ISBTs across the Capital, said CAQM officials on Friday.
The cameras will cross-verify the number plates, captured in a few milliseconds, with the VAHAN database containing a vehicle’s registration details, fuel type, and age. The fuel station operator would then receive an alert if the vehicle is flagged as an ELV. This will also be shared with enforcement agencies to take action, such as impoundment and scrapping.
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According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) for fuel stations, there has to be a mandatory display of signage on denying fuel to ELVs. Staff should be trained in implementing the drive. Station operators also need to maintain logs, either manual or digital, of such fuel denial instances and report them to the Transport Department weekly.
The Transport Department will deploy teams at fuel stations where maximum visits of such ELVs are observed and take action against any violating fuel stations. It has to submit a list of violating fuel stations to the CAQM and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas every week.
Dr Virender Sharma, Member-Technical at CAQM, said that although laws had been in place to not allow overage vehicles to ply in Delhi, as per the Supreme Court’s 2018 directions, the liquidation of such vehicles can only be done by adopting stringent measures such as denying fueling. “… These steps will ensure better air quality, especially for Delhi’s elderly and children, who suffer the most due to air pollution.”
The CAQM also said in a statement on Friday, “Delhi-NCR’s transport sector contributes about 28% of PM 2.5, 41% of SO2, and 78% of NOX emissions to overall air pollution”.
The enforcement mechanism
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-Targeted enforcement through ANPR camera data. Hotspots (fuel stations with high EVL numbers) to be identified
-Joint agency deployment of Transport, Traffic Police, MCD department officials at fuel stations
-Coordinated ops: A shared contact list of key officers will ensure smooth inter-agency coordination
-Designated nodal officers at fuel stations will coordinate with enforcement
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-Police will be deployed to prevent issues arising out of fuel denial to overage vehicles
-Transport Department will collect and share daily EVL identification and impoundment data to CAQM