'No PUC, No Fuel' drive: On Day 1, about 2,800 vehicles denied fuel in Delhi

New Delhi: The Transport Department denied fuel to nearly 2,800 vehicles without valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates on the first day of 'No PUC, No Fuel' enforcement drive in the national capital, officials said on Friday. Three enforcement teams have been deployed by the department and are conducting checks at petrol pumps along with police personnel at key locations to ensure strict compliance with emission norms, they said. Between 6 am on Thursday and 6 am on Friday, around 2,800 vehicles were identified without valid PUC certificates, a senior Transport Department official told media reporters. On the first day of the drive on Thursday, stringent action was taken against vehicles operating without valid PUC certificates, with a total of 3,746 challans issued against violators. The Delhi government said monitoring and strict enforcement will continue in the coming days to reduce vehicular emissions and provide immediate relief to public health.

According to a joint report by the Delhi Transport Department and the Delhi Traffic Police, a total of 210 enforcement teams were deployed for the special drive, including 126 teams from the Delhi Traffic Police and 84 teams from the Transport Department. Earlier this week, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that vehicles without a valid PUC certificate would not be provided fuel at petrol pumps in the city from Thursday. Following the announcement, the number of Pollution Under Control certificates issued in Delhi rose sharply. According to official data, 31,197 PUC certificates were issued on December 17, compared to 17,732 on December 16 -- an increase of 13,465 certificates, or a 75.9 per cent rise within 24 hours. Every winter, Delhi’s air pollution worsens, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) remaining in the ‘poor’ category above 300 on most days and often slipping into the ‘severe’ category beyond 400, affecting even healthy individuals. Delhi’s air quality was recorded in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday, with the 2 pm AQI reading at 377 -- higher than the previous day’s 24-hour average AQI of 373 recorded at 4 pm -- according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). According to the CPCB, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’ and 401–500 ‘severe’.