Brace yourself for long queues and chaos from July 1 at fuel stations. Beginning next month, fuel stations are prohibited from dispensing fuel to diesel vehicles older than ten years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, regardless of their State of registration. This measure is aimed at reducing air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Given the challenge of implementing this strict measure, Delhi Transport Department, Delhi Police and Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)on Friday held a meeting to ensure smooth roll out.
Vehicle owners found violating the regulation will face strict penalties with a fine of
Rs 10,000 for four-wheelers and Rs 5,000 for two-wheelers, in addition to towing and parking charges. Additionally, owners will be required to sign an undertaking stating that the vehicle will no longer be used or parked in any public place in Delhi and will be removed from the National Capital Territory. According to officials, End-of-life vehicles detected at fuel stations or found parked at public places will be impounded and a penalty of Rs 10,000 imposed on four-wheeler owners and Rs 5,000 on two-wheeler owners starting July 1.
As per the VAHAN database, Delhi alone has over 62 lakh End-of-Life vehicles, including 41 lakh two-wheelers and 18 lakh four-wheelers.
These vehicles are either deregistered, deemed unfit under the Motor Vehicles Act, or self-declared as waste by owners.
In the wider NCR, Haryana accounts for 27.5 lakh EoL vehicles, followed by 12.4 lakh in Uttar Pradesh and 6.1 lakh in Rajasthan. .
To enforce the ban, authorities are turning to technology, particularly Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems, which are being installed at fuel stations across the NCR to automatically detect and flag EoL vehicles in real time.
According to CAQM, the installation of ANPR cameras at all fuel stations in Delhi must be completed by June 30. In the next phase, the five high-vehicle-density districts contiguous to Delhi - Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat - are required to complete installation by October 31. The rest of NCR must follow by March 31, 2026. Once functional, these systems will serve as automated enforcement points.
When a vehicle enters a fuel station, the camera captures its registration plate, instantly verifies its age and emission compliance through the central VAHAN database, and alerts the pump operator if the vehicle is deemed End-of-Life. Refuelling will then be denied, and the incident logged and reported.
So far, ANPR cameras have been installed at 498 locations in Delhi, including 382 petrol/diesel stations, 116 CNG stations, and all three Inter-State Bus Terminals. Between June 1 and June 23, over 77.8 lakh vehicles were screened through the system, and 1.36 lakh were identified as EoL. The initiative has also prompted 8.05 lakh vehicle owners to renew their Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC), indicating a notable spike in compliance.
Fuel station operators have been directed to display mandatory signage about the ban, maintain digital or manual logs of fuel denial cases, and report weekly to the Transport Department. ANPR alerts will also include an audio warning when a flagged vehicle enters the premises. The Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (DTIDC), as the project monitoring agency, is overseeing the technical deployment and real-time operation of the system.
As per CAQM, many of EoL vehicles still operate under outdated Bharat Stage norms, ranging from BS-II to BS-IV, and emit substantially higher levels of pollutants than newer vehicles compliant with BS-VI norms. In fact, BS-IV vehicles alone emit 5.5 times more particulate matter than BS-VI vehicles.
The transport sector contributes heavily to the region’s air pollution - around 28 percent of PM2.5, 41 percent of sulphur dioxide, and 78 percent of nitrogen oxides, making vehicle emissions a key target for regulatory intervention.
Enforcement will be backed by joint teams of the Transport Department, Delhi Traffic Police, and the Municipal Corporation. High-incidence fuel stations - where more than 100 EoL vehicles have been flagged - will receive priority enforcement. Fuel station owners must nominate nodal officers to coordinate with enforcement personnel, while Delhi Police will deploy additional PCR vans to manage crowds and prevent altercations.
The interim measures to put the ban on such vehicles, precede the Environment Protection (End-of-Life Vehicles) Rules, 2025, which come into force from April next year. Under these rules, vehicle owners must ensure that any End-of-Life vehicle is deposited at a registered scrapping facility within 180 days of being declared unfit.