Vehicle emission inspections choke Delhi borders

Checks were uneven across entry points, with limited staffing and congestion complicating enforcement.

The first weekday of Delhi’s drive to keep out vehicles registered outside the Capital that do not meet Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission standards triggered major traffic snarls in Gurugram and at the UP Gate-Ghazipur border on Monday, even as enforcement remained patchy at several entry points from Noida and Ghaziabad.

At major entry points with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, checks appeared visibly intensified on Monday (Sunil Ghosh/HT)

On the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway, slow movement near Samalka led to a nearly five-kilometre-long tailback stretching up to Moulsari Avenue in Gurugram by Monday evening, police said. At the UP Gate-Ghazipur border, heavy weekday traffic and vehicle checks caused brief snarls. While Noida’s Chilla border, random checks led to a queue stretching around 1.7km, while smaller entry points such as New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar saw few or no checks.

The restrictions, which are part of the Delhi government’s winter action plan, came into effect on November 1 and will remain in force until January 31, 2027.

Enforcement at Delhi entry points

At the DND flyway, constable Khem Chand told HT that between 8am and 12.30pm, four vehicles were turned back for not meeting BS-VI standards, while five motorists were challaned for expired PUCCs.

Chand said police had asked the MCD toll staff at DND to alert them about vehicles violating the restrictions. But officers said stopping vehicles on busy roads was difficult without causing congestion. “There is no space to stop vehicles apart from the main road. So, even if one of us stops two or three vehicles for checks, traffic starts building up almost immediately,” a constable deployed at another entry point said.

Manjit Pratap, 25, a Noida resident working for an online delivery platform, was stopped at DND on his two-wheeler. “I was on my way to Gurugram to deliver an order worth ₹453. I was unaware of the checks, and now officials have asked me to pay ₹10,500 because my PUC certificate expired a month ago,” he said.

Thin deployment at some borders

At Noida’s Chilla border and DND toll plaza, only three to four Delhi Traffic Police personnel were seen conducting random checks. A constable at Chilla claimed 30-35 vehicles from Noida had been turned back, but said the volume of traffic made it difficult to check every vehicle. More than half a million estaimted vehicles cross the two entry points every day, according to Noida traffic police.

The checking led to a queue of around 1.7km at Chilla. Noida police personnel said they had asked Delhi counterparts to ease checks when traffic built up. A senior Noida traffic police officer said Delhi Police had sought assistance but questioned how state police could stop vehicles when the restriction had not been imposed in Uttar Pradesh.

At smaller crossings, enforcement was even more limited. The entry from Noida’s Sector 15 towards New Ashok Nagar was unmanned, while three traffic police personnel were deployed near Anand Vihar Metro station on the Ghaziabad side. No vehicle checks were seen during HT’s 30-minute visit. “They check at night. In the morning there’s too much rush,” an MCD toll collection staffer said.

Day 2 of Gurugram congestion

In Gurugram, Monday’s snarls followed severe congestion on the same stretch on Sunday, when intensive checks left commuters stranded for hours. Police said barricades and checking teams at Sirhaul toll plaza, along with a bottleneck near Samalka, peak-hour office traffic, and the festive rush, contributed to the tailback.

Assistant commissioner of police (Gurugram traffic headquarters) Saytapal Yadav said teams had been deployed on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, MG Road, Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and Dwarka Expressway. Police were coordinating with their Delhi counterparts to regulate traffic, he said.

The restrictions continued to affect commuters from satellite towns. Gaurav, a Faridabad resident travelling from Gurugram to Dwarka, was turned back at the border. “I did not know about the ban, so we took the car. Now we will have to go back, and my friend will take a cab after crossing the Gurugram border,” he said.

Brajesh Sharma, a Sector 78 resident from Noida who owns a BS-IV Tata Tiago, said he and two colleagues had borrowed a neighbour’s BS-VI car to commute to Delhi. “This rule is only being implemented to harass the common man,” he said.

Noida Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Syyed Ali Abbas said police were following CAQM guidelines and that action against BS-IV vehicles would be taken after the imposition of GRAP Stage 3. The restrictions are set to continue through the winter months, with enforcement agencies facing the challenge of balancing checks against the daily flow of commuters into the capital.