New Delhi: The Air Quality Management Commission has ordered not to give fuel to old vehicles in Haryana’s NCR districts as it is causing damage to many other districts in the state, which will severely affect nearly 27.50 lakh old vehicles have already completed their period of circulation, which include 70 percent of the vehicles in Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat and out of the the total 14 districts of Haryana falling in the National Capital Region (NCR) the remaining 11 districts of Haryana are falling in NCR have population of nearly 30 percent of the vehicles declared old, but the vehicle owners are still operating them in various districts of NCR according to the Central Air Quality Management Commission information and these vehicles are becoming a major cause of air pollution in NCR. The Air Quality Management Commission has ordered the state government not to provide fuel to these vehicles from November 1.
The residents of 14 districts of Haryana blame that they have been worst affected being situated in NCR than from its benefits, since whenever any order is implemented for NCR, it also affects the residents of those districts of Haryana which are actually far away from the periphery of NCR. The residents as well as the Haryana government believes that Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rewari, Palwal, Jhajjar and Nuh are fine to be included in the ambit of NCR, but Panipat, Karnal, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri and Mahendragarh-Narnaul districts have more loss in being included in NCR. Information also reveals that the area of Haryana which falls in NCR is nearly 25,000 KM. In July 2022, the Haryana government had sent a proposal to the Central Government demanding to exclude Karnal, Jind, Mahendragarh-Narnaul, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani and Meham tehsils of Rohtak district and Matlauda and Panipat tehsils of Panipat district from the purview of NCR. In case this proposal gets approval of the NCR Planning Board, then the area of NCR in Haryana will be reduced by 1148 square kilometers from the present area of Haryana state identified as nearly 25,000 square kilometers.
Whatever decisions are issued by the National Green Authority, NCR Planning Board, Delhi Government and Central Air Quality Commission for NCR, even those districts of Haryana, which are not directly related to these decisions, come under the purview of their compliance. The Central Air Quality Management Commission has issued an order setting a lifespan of 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol vehicles in Delhi NCR., since such vehicles above this age cause pollution in NCR demanding to curb their movement in the area. Government data reveals that in the national capital Delhi, a total number of 61 lakh, 14 thousand 728 vehicles have completed their life span, while in Haryana 27 lakh 50 thousand 152 vehicles have crossed their life span. In the districts of NCR of Uttar Pradesh, the number of such vehicles is 12 lakh 69 thousand 598.
The Central Air Quality Management Commission has directed that such vehicles should not be given fuel and petrol pumps in Delhi have been directed to install ANPR cameras to recognize the vehicle’s number plates. However, petrol pumps in Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat districts have been asked to install cameras by October 2025 and the vehicles will not be given fuel in these districts from November 1. 27.5 to old lakh vehicles in NCR.
