Latest news with #ANPRs
Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Centre's curbs on end-of-life vehicles: Not even a band-aid
The Delhi government has asked the Centre's Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to pause the fuel ban on end-of-life vehicles. The order to stop fuel supply to 10-year-old diesel-run vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles, which came into effect on July 1, was justified as an anti-pollution measure. Delhi's Environment Minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, however, said that the move could be 'counter-productive'. He is right, to an extent. The restrictions could push owners of ageing vehicles to source diesel or petrol from Delhi's neighbouring states and create conditions for an illicit inter-state fuel market. Delhi CM Rekha Gupta's argument that the ban will jeopardise the livelihoods of a large section of the city's population that depends on two-wheelers is also valid. However, both the restrictions and the pushback against them are symptomatic of a longstanding failing of both the Centre and its agencies, including the CAQM, as well as successive Delhi governments. The Capital has longed for a well-thought-out plan to clean its air for at least a decade-and-a-half. All it has got are blunt measures and piecemeal solutions. The CAQM had put the onus on petrol pump dealers to enforce the ban. Failure to do so would attract penalties under Section 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. As a Petrol Dealers Association petition to the Delhi High Court pointed out, the move burdened 'petrol pump owners and their attendants… without them being necessarily equipped or authorised under any law to carry out such a responsibility'. On paper, the end-of-life vehicles are flagged by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system installed at fuel stations and match the data against the government's Vahan portal. The trial run for these systems began at the end of last year, and last month the CAQM reportedly claimed that the ANPR scanners were ready to implement the ban on end-of-life vehicles. But, as Sirsa admitted, at several places in the city, ANPRs are riddled with technical glitches, including faulty sensors and incorrect placement of cameras. That the system is not integrated across the NCR shows that very little planning went into making the restrictions effective. Stemming vehicular pollution requires sustained engagement with the complex reasons behind motorisation — lifestyle choices, livelihood imperatives and urban sprawl that increases travel time and distances. Successive governments in Delhi haven't addressed this imperative adequately. Even the relatively easier task of nudging people to invest in the fitness of their vehicles has never received the policy attention it required. In the months it has been in office, Delhi's BJP government has given little indication of learning from the failures of its predecessors. It must course correct.
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Business Standard
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Delhi govt challenges CAQM fuel ban on old vehicles, cites tech flaws
The Delhi government has written to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), saying the fuel ban on overage vehicles is not feasible due to technological challenges and complex systems, PTI reported on Thursday. Addressing a press conference, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said there was discontent among people due to the move mandated by the pollution control body and that the government stood with them. The Delhi government, from 1 July, began implementing the fuel ban for end-of-life vehicles, comprising diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, irrespective of the state in which they are registered. Sirsa has written to the CAQM, highlighting challenges in the implementation of the pollution body's directive. 'We have informed them that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras that were installed are not a robust system, and there are still many challenges with them,' he said, adding: 'Technical glitches, non-working sensors, and malfunctioning speakers — all these challenges are there. It has not been integrated with the NCR data yet. It is not able to identify HSRP plates.' The Delhi government has installed ANPRs at nearly 350 petrol pumps across the national capital for the detection of such vehicles. 'We also said that such a law has not been implemented in Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and the rest of NCR till now,' Sirsa pointed out. The fuel restriction is scheduled to be expanded to five neighbouring high-vehicle-density districts — Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), and Sonipat — from November 1. Separately, a survey conducted by LocalCircles has found that 80 per cent of Delhi residents oppose the ban. While 87 per cent of two-wheeler owners oppose the fuel ban, only 44 per cent of four-wheeler owners are against it. Given that two-wheelers constitute about 70 per cent of the affected vehicles, this opposition represents a significant portion of daily commuters who rely on older bikes for transportation, the survey found. Meanwhile, the Delhi transport department and traffic police have been impounding end-of-life vehicles reaching petrol pumps within city limits for refuelling after the implementation of the ban. The Aam Aadmi Party has also come down heavily on the fuel ban, with former Delhi chief minister Atishi on Wednesday describing it as a 'Tughlaqi farman (autocratic order)'. She claimed the move will affect citizens, particularly office-goers and senior citizens who rely on older two-wheelers for daily commutes. Petrol pump owners have also opposed the move, with the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) filing a plea in the Delhi High Court challenging the fines and legal action imposed on them for supplying fuel to end-of-life vehicles. The DPDA argued that the directive imposes 'the responsibility of implementing the said rule without them being necessarily equipped or authorised under any law to carry out such responsibility'. The High Court has said it will hear the case in September and has sought responses from both the CAQM and the Delhi government. A 2018 Supreme Court judgment prohibits the use of diesel vehicles more than 10 years old and petrol vehicles over 15 years old in Delhi. Additionally, a 2014 NGT directive bans parking vehicles older than 15 years in public areas.
