Vehicles curbs in Delhi as air quality plunges; govt mulls odd-even

CM Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the Delhi government is exploring the possibility of once again implementing an odd-even traffic rationing scheme and are consulting experts regarding the same

Curbs on private and commercial vehicles entering the National Capital will come into effect soon, the Delhi government said.

The transport department will send messages to all vehicles which are likely to face the curbs and a challan of ₹20,000 fine will be imposed for the offense (HT Photo)

Giving details, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said the transport department is also drafting a public order about the ban. “The order will be issued by Friday evening ,” he said.

Speaking to HT, a transport department official said a ban will be imposed on all BS-III and BS-IV four-wheeler diesel vehicles and all Delhi registered commercial diesel vehicles including BS-VI. Vehicles carrying essential goods using non-diesel trucks will be allowed to enter Delhi, he said.

All two and three-wheelers are exempted from the curbs.

“There are 120 enforcement teams deployed to check whether the vehicles are sticking to emission standards. They will also ensure that the curbs are enforced,” said the transport department official .

Further, the department will send messages to all vehicles likely to face the curbs and a challan of ₹20,000 fine will be imposed for the offence.

The curbs come in view of the air quality plunging into the severe category as the city records its worst air since December 26 last year. In an order issued on Thursday evening, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) recommended enforcement of restrictions mandated under stage four of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap).

Under the Grap measures, when the air quality slips into the severe category (AQI between 401-500), the state governments should stop the entry of diesel-run trucks, except those carrying essential commodities, and diesel cars, except the BS-VI emission norms compliant vehicles.

According to an estimate by the transport department, there are nearly 300,000 diesel vehicles likely to be affected after the curbs implementation.

An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in November last year said that vehicles are the biggest contributor to local particulate matter in Delhi.

Delhi has 8 million active vehicles of which around 30% are clean fuel vehicles comprised of CNG, petrol and electric.

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