For strict enforcement of the ban on refuelling overaged vehicles, the Transport Department has included a provision allowing the arrest of petrol pump owners in case of any violation at their stations. The move has drawn strong objections from petrol pump dealers who called it “unacceptable.”
“We are strictly against this order of arrest. We have supported the government in this initiative but the provision of arrest is simply unacceptable. It’s like a sword hanging on our head. We cannot operate in such a threatening situation,” said a petrol pump owner from South Delhi.
A delegation of the Delhi Petrol Dealers’ Association will meet Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa regarding their reservations on the fuel ban implementation on Tuesday and with the Transport Commissioner on Wednesday.
The petrol dealers and association pointed out that they are bound by the law to refuel any vehicle that comes to petrol pumps and demanded clarity from the government on the subject.
“Refusing the fuel to a vehicle owner can attract provisions of the Essential Commodities Act unless an order is passed on the contrary by the Food and Civil Supplies department. I believe the government should clarify more on the provision of arrest and non-compliance of the Essential Commodities Act to rule out legal ambiguity on implementation of the fuel ban,” said Bibek Banerjee, General Secretary, Delhi Petrol Dealers Association.
The fuel ban has been making controversies ever since it was announced. The ANPR cameras during the testing phase started generating erroneous data, incorrectly flagging vehicles as end-of-life despite valid registration periods.
The ANPR system is designed to detect overaged vehicles arriving at refueling stations and check for valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates. If a vehicle is found non-compliant, petrol pump attendants are alerted and are expected to deny fuel refilling. However, the current glitches are raising apprehensions among operators about potential chaos during rollout.
Dealers highlighted that the issue lies in the backend of the system and urged that it be fixed before full implementation to avoid inconvenience to customers.
Later, the transport department started attaching a public announcement system that will trigger an alarm, notifying pump staff through loudspeaker if a vehicle is found to have crossed its permissible operational life stopping such vehicles from refuelling.
Despite the initiative’s objectives, concerns over the system’s reliability persist. Dealers had earlier flagged issues of valid vehicles being wrongly marked as overaged, particularly CNG-run auto rickshaws.
"After we raised the matter, the cameras stopped giving junk data which wrongly flagged vehicles as overaged. However, after the speakers are installed, neither of them are working," said a petrol pump dealer near AIIMS.
The fuel supply ban will apply to all vehicles in Delhi that have exceeded their permitted operational life--diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.