India capital Delhi banning vehicles over 15 years old from buying fuel, in a bid to improve city’s air quality

India prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is back in power in Delhi after 27 years, and the BJP has announced an eye-opening new rule – vehicles older than 15 years will not be able to purchase fuel in the capital city from April 1. Effectively, that’s a ban on old cars, with 15 years being the age limit.

Over the weekend, environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that a team will be formed to identify the old vehicles and ‘gadgets’ will be used to discriminate. “We are installing gadgets at petrol pumps which will identify vehicles older than 15 years and no fuel will be provided to them,” he said, reported by NDTV.

While this new order sounds drastic, it’s all about the implementation. Apparently, Delhi and India’s National Capital Region have a policy where diesel-powered vehicles older than 10 years and petrol ones older than 15 years are not allowed on the roads. A 2021 order said that such vehicles would be impounded and sent to the scrapyard if they were found roaming the streets after January 1, 2022.

Sirsa said the government’s initial focus will be on heavy vehicles entering Delhi and teams will check whether the rules that are set are being followed.

Delhi, a bustling megalopolis of 33 million people, is famous for being one of the most polluted cities in the world. The previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has pointed the finger at open burning and other factors in states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but Sirsa is looking inwards.

“We have only one goal: The one who is causing pollution will also provide the solution. When we reduce pollution in our state, only then will we be able to tell other states. Factors within Delhi contribute to over 50% of the capital’s pollution,” he said.

What do you think of this bold move by Delhi’s new government? We’re in 2025 now, which means that cars made before 2010 are classified as old and not fit for the road – do you own such a car? Examples of cars made before 2010 are the Honda City GM2 and Volkswagen Golf Mk6. Don’t worry, something like this would never happen in Malaysia, even if our pollution level is as bad as Delhi’s – we don’t even have standardised number plates in 2025.

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