Centre flags Delhi-NCR’s vehicle burden as key pollution driver, calls for rapid EV transition

New Delhi: A high-level meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister has raised an urgent alarm over Delhi’s outsized vehicle load, directing all states in the National Capital Region to speed up their shift toward electric mobility and tighten enforcement as winter pollution worsens.

Senior officials present at the meeting on October 23 said the intervention came at a time when Delhi’s air quality had already slipped into the “very poor” category, prompting the Delhi government to enforce Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). With AQI levels crossing 350 and stubble-burning season approaching its peak, the Centre pressed NCR states to adopt “practical and visible” measures to reduce emissions.

One of the biggest red flags raised at the meeting was the distribution of vehicles across the region. Of the 2.97 crore vehicles registered in the NCR, an astonishing 1.57 crore, more than half, are based in Delhi, despite the capital making up just 2.7 per cent of the NCR’s land area. Officials also noted that nearly 37 per cent of the region’s fleet still runs on outdated BS I to BS III emission norms, significantly amplifying winter pollution.

With the Commission for Air Quality Management repeatedly identifying vehicular emissions as a core concern, the Prime Minister’s Office asked Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab to aggressively push electric mobility. States were urged to strengthen enforcement by using ANPR cameras, RFID systems and integrated traffic monitoring networks to detect older vehicles and violators.

Data presented in the meeting reflected slow EV adoption. In October, Delhi registered 4,419 electric two-wheelers, less than a tenth of conventional two-wheeler registrations that month. Between January and October, only 17,942 EV or hybrid four-wheelers were registered, compared to over 1.27 lakh petrol and diesel cars. Officials said that unless EV policies are revised and timelines enforced, the region will struggle to shift away from fossil-fuel-dependent transport.

The meeting concluded with states being advised to update their EV policies for all vehicle categories, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, private cars, buses and commercial fleets, and to promptly issue cab and bike aggregator policies that support cleaner mobility. The Centre has also directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to fast-track a scientific assessment of pollution caused by fossil-fuel vehicles.

Air quality data underscores why transport remains in focus. Between October 15 and November 25, average PM10 levels hovered around 295 µg/m³ and PM2.5 at 171 µg/m³, far above WHO’s safe limits of 45 µg/m³ and 15 µg/m³ respectively. According to the Decision Support System of IITM, vehicles contributed 14–20 percent of pollution between November 1 and 22. Analyses by the Centre for Science and Environment suggest that in winter, vehicular emissions alone can account for nearly half of Delhi’s particulate pollution.

The emphasis on transportation also comes as farm fire numbers decline sharply. From September 15 to November 24, stubble-burning cases across Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and MP fell to a five-year low of 27,720, significantly below levels recorded in previous years.

Officials said the trend reinforces the need to address vehicular emissions, now the most persistent and dominant contributor to Delhi’s winter smog.