From July 1st onwards, Delhi started enforcing a fuel ban on End-of-Life Vehicles or ELVs. In Delhi, this means diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.

This enforcement drive followed an order from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) stipulating no fuel for ELVs from July 1. But now, following a public outcry, the Delhi government has written to CAQM asking for this fuel ban to be put on hold “with immediate effect”. The reasons it has cited include “critical operational and infrastructural challenges” and ‘public discontent and outcry”.

While the enforcement drive raising a public outcry is understandable, it cannot be denied that Delhi’s air quality has become a year-round emergency which needs counter-measures.

How was this decision to ban 10-year-old diesel cars and 15-year-old petrol cars arrived at? Is this a practical policy in a poor country like India where for many, their vehicle is linked to their livelihood? Are there better ways to weed out polluting vehicles? What about retro-fitting older vehicles to make them less polluting?

Guest: Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi.

Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Produced and Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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