Scanner on end-of-life vehicles entering Delhi

The Delhi government plans to install cameras at all border points and issue warnings via text messages to owners of overage vehicles registered outside the national capital, environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said

In a bid to regulate entry of end-of-life vehicles in the Capital, the Delhi government plans to install cameras at all border points and issue warnings via text messages to owners of such vehicles registered outside the national capital, environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Wednesday.

The state government has sought a database from VAHAN of all overage vehicles registered in other states. (Sunil Ghosh /HT PHOTO)

The cameras, Sirsa told HT, will be connected to VAHAN database under the Centre’s ministry of road transport and highways. The cameras will identify overage vehicles, while LED boards will display and flash numbers of such vehicles, the minister added. Additionally, an SMS will be sent in advance, alerting these vehicles that their entry is illegal in the capital, he said.

“The goal is to eventually issue automatic online challans to such cars,” Sirsa said.

The state government has sought a database from VAHAN of all overage vehicles registered in other states. A meeting is scheduled on Thursday at the Delhi secretariat with officials of the transport department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to discuss modalities for the same, Sirsa said.

Petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years are considered as end-of-life vehicles. Delhi has around 6 million such vehicles, according to transport department estimates.

The planned measures are part of the Delhi government’s strict stance on plying of end-of-life vehicles. The vehicular sector is among the highest contributors to air pollution in the Capital — a November 2024 assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that among local sources, the vehicular sector contributes around 51% to the total pollution load in the city.

Last month, the government imposed a ban on sale of fuel to such vehicles from April 1.

“We have already announced that no fuel will be given to overage vehicles. We are taking further action where we will follow a two-pronged approach. First, at border points, we plan to install enough cameras which will identify each and every number plate. It will be connected to the VAHAN database and if the vehicle is overage, as per the database, the number will be flashed. We have also reached out to VAHAN to see if an SMS can be issued to the vehicle, saying that its entry into Delhi is prohibited and illegal,” Sirsa said, stating the goal was to not involve manpower but technology to take action against such vehicles.

“We don’t wish to deploy unnecessary manpower to stop vehicles since it leads to traffic jams and chaos. Instead, the use of such cameras will mean that such vehicles are flagged automatically. At Thursday’s meeting, we will explore these ideas and how to execute them,” he said.

Officials will also explore the possibility of sending SMS to vehicles set to turn overage in the next six months.