New Delhi:

Old cars that do not have certificates to prove they are not polluting the environment will have to stay off the roads in Delhi from April 1.

Drivers who bring such cars to fuel stations won’t be given fuel, officials said.

At present, some fuel stations across the national capital have government authorised testing cabins that issue Pollution Under Control, or PUC, certificates. Car owners must get their vehicles checked once every year to renew their PUC certificates.

To make this system foolproof, every fuel station in Delhi will have a new device that can identify vehicles whose PUC certificates have expired.

They will deny fuel for any vehicle whose PUC certificate has expired. Delhi has approximately 500 fuel stations, and the new system is being implemented at all of them.

When a vehicle that does not comply with emission regulations comes in for refueling, the system will announce it as a defaulter, and the staff at the fuel station will not offer any service.

This system is connected to a central database that checks for violators based on their registration numbers, retrieving details from the government database.

For now, the systems have been installed at Veejay Service Station, Kalidas Marg; Angra HP Centre, Vinay Marg, opposite Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri; Anup Service Station, Plot No. 10, DDA Community Centre, Alaknanda; Ugra Sain and Sons, opposite Welcome Metro Station, Shahdara; Qutab Service Station, Mehrauli Road, and Intimate Service Station, Panchshila Park.

The Delhi government earlier this month said vehicles older than 15 years will not get fuel.

Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said a team will be formed to identify such vehicles.

“We are installing gadgets at petrol pumps which will identify vehicles older than 15 years and no fuel will be provided to them,” Mr Sirsa said after holding a meeting with officials to discuss steps to combat air pollution in Delhi.

Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) have a policy under which diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years are not allowed on the roads.

An order in 2021 said such vehicles would be impounded and sent to the scrapyard if they were found operating on the roads after January 1, 2022.

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