Several Delhi residents have welcomed the government’s recent decision to pause the July 1 fuel ban on older vehicles. The move came after strong public backlash to an April 2025 order by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which directed fuel stations to stop supplying petrol and diesel to end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).

Facing mounting criticism, Delhi Cabinet Ministers on Thursday cited technical glitches and a lack of data integration with NCR cities as major hurdles in rolling out the directive.

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Siddarth Arya, 67, a retired banker from Dwarka, welcomed the pause but questioned how long it would last. “The government needs better, long-term policies based on a vehicle’s pollution levels, not just its age,” he said.

Arya also challenged the logic behind retiring personal vehicles purely based on age. “Why scrap a car that still runs well and regularly passes pollution checks?”

At a press conference, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of pushing harsh, anti-people vehicle policies. Referring to the 2024 scrappage policy, Sirsa said, “They have looted Delhi’s people by joining hands with car dealers. This is like issuing ‘Tughlaqi or Aurangzeb-style farmans’.”

Sirsa assured that the current Delhi government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, stands with the citizens. “We’re exploring legal options to see if the fuel ban can be implemented based on actual emissions, not just vehicle age,” he added.

Saurabh Mishra, a 49-year-old MNC executive from East Delhi, called the 2021 scrappage policy of the Centre a raw deal for vehicle owners. “I was forced to take my well-maintained car to a registered scrapping centre and got just Rs 32,000,” he said. “If I’d been allowed to sell it in another state, I could’ve easily made Rs 2 lakh.”

For senior citizens like Arya, the issue is also financial. Now drawing a pension that’s a third of his former salary, he said, “I simply can’t afford to buy a new car. My income doesn’t allow it, and at this age, no bank will give me a loan.”

He also criticised what he called the “poor policy framework” under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), especially the abrupt bans on BS-IV vehicles in Delhi. “What is someone supposed to do if they’ve been out of town for 10 days and are trying to return home?” he asked. “Are we expected to just leave our cars at the city borders?”

Such abrupt enforcement, he said, causes panic and confusion. “The government needs to think through these measures more holistically and communicate them clearly,” he added — a concern echoed during the recent rollout of the now-paused fuel ban.

While Arya appreciated the government’s intent to curb pollution, he raised another concern: fuel quality. “Are there any checks to ensure that petrol or diesel isn’t being adulterated with turpentine or other substances?” he asked, urging stricter monitoring of fuel standards.

Calling the fuel ban “unnecessary harassment of the public,” Arya said that with modern cars and better roads, vehicles remain roadworthy well beyond 10 or 15 years. “Instead of scrapping and denying fuel, allow people to replace the engine—at a nominal cost—and continue using the car if it meets safety and pollution norms,” he said. “The government and Nitin Gadkari ji need to rethink this policy in the public’s interest.”