The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has informed the Supreme Court that it has asked the Delhi government and the neighbouring states for strict compliance with the emission standards and pollution norms, given vehicular pollution contributes heavily towards poor air quality.
In a compliance report filed before the top court, the air quality panel said that regular certification of vehicles for compliance with emission standards was a must.
According to the panel's data, a total of 1.81 lakh challans were issued in Delhi till June 2024 for either driving without valid pollution under control certificate (PUC) or driving over the prescribed load limit, in comparison with 1.64 lakh challans for similar offences in 2023.
"Regular certification of vehicles towards compliance of emission standards is a must and in this context the commission has directed the national capital region (NCR) state governments and the government of national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for effective implementation of the new PUC certificate regime, including periodic audits of the PUC certificate issuing agencies, in compliance of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (Amendment) Rules, 2021 dated June 14,2021," the CAQM said.
The body further informed the supreme court that drives were being carried out regularly for ascertaining compliance.
The panel further said that all states concerned have been directed to strictly adhere to the age limit of vehicles -- 15 years in the case of petrol vehicles and 10 years in case of diesel vehicles -- and ensure any vehicle above the prescribed age limit does not ply on NCR roads.
The panel said a boost in public transport infrastructure and facilities is the need of the hour to ease congestion on roads and abate vehicular pollution.
"The GNCTD and NCR state governments have been accordingly advised to prioritise public transport while also mandating e-mobility in some sectors and augmentation of the charging infrastructure," it said.
Batting for a transition to e-mobility, the commission said it has issued an advisory "mandating procurement of e-vehicles" in the government, e-commerce platforms for door-to-door deliveries, service agencies etc., to give a further push to clean technologies in the transport sector.
"Equally important is the need to build requisite infrastructure to support e-mobility i.e., battery charging stations, battery swapping points and for disposal of large volume of batteries which is likely to be generated in the ensuing years," the panel said.
The commission disclosed that Delhi has 3,00,810 electric vehicles and 4,793 charging points.
It said that GNCTD has been given a target of increasing the number of charging points to 18,000 by 2025-26, with UP and Haryana being set targets for an addition of 252 and 170 points, respectively, by the end of 2026.
The submissions were part of a report filed in response to the directions of the top court, which is hearing a plea to curb air pollution in the national capital.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Sirsa has accused Arvind Kejriwal's AAP - in power before the BJP won the February election - of allowing more than 1.08 lakh vehicles to run on city roads despite each emitting high levels of carbon monoxide.
An integrated command and control centre has been proposed in the 2025-26 Delhi budget, presented by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday, for real-time monitoring of air quality, water pollution, noise levels, and waste management.
As part of broader strategy to tackle the expected winter pollution peak, the Delhi government will install six new air quality monitoring stations across the national capital over the next three months, Environment Minister said.
Delhi remained India's most polluted megacity by a wide margin during the 2024-25 winter, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 175 micrograms per cubic metre, according to an analysis released on Tuesday.
A small city on the Meghalaya-Assam border, nearly 2,000 kilometres away from Delhi, is the most polluted in the world, according to a report published by a global pollution watchdog.
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