Majority of Delhiites against scrapping of old vehicles: The Statesman Survey

Facing massive public outcry, the Delhi government on Thursday backtracked on its decision to ban refuelling of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the order has been put on hold until the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system was fully implemented across the Delhi-NCR region. Acknowledging the public anger, he said the ban was not feasable due to technical issues.

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The Delhi government retreated after a social media survey by The Statesman revealed that a majority of Delhiites were against scrapping the older vehicles that pass the Pollution Under Control (PUC) test.

In the survey, we posed a question – should vehicles be banned just because they’re 10 years old (diesel) or 15 years old (petrol), even if they pass the PUC test?

The results that we got were telling as only 8.3 per cent of the respondents supported the government’s blanket ban on overage vehicles, while a significant 52.8 per cent replied in the negative for the ban on old vehicles solely based on their age.

Another 38.9% per cent said that the vehicles should be banned only if they fail the pollution test.

Starting today, Delhi bans refuelling of diesel vehicles over 10 years and petrol vehicles over 15 years.

Do you endorse this age-based ban even if the vehicle meets pollution norms?

Tell us what you think in the poll and comments below. pic.x.com/FdbVxNcgOb

— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) July 1, 2025

The Statesman survey clearly reflects the mood of the city that a vast majority – over 90 per cent – either completely opposed the ban or favoured a PUC test to determine it.

The survey reached more than 1.7 lakh people on X.