Public pressure wins: Bharadwaj hails fuel ban reversal on ELVs

New Delhi: At a press conference on Friday, AAP Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj congratulated the people of Delhi after the BJP-led government reversed its position on the fuel ban on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs).

Terming it a victory for “public pressure and a responsible opposition,” he asserted that the decision was not mandated by the courts, as claimed by the BJP, but was instead pre-planned as evidenced by an announcement shortly after they assumed power.

Pointing to the timeline to justify his claims, he revealed that the first orders on this subject came from the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court in 2015, but remained unimplemented. After the BJP came to power in late February 2025, their Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced the fuel ban on March 1, as documented in a dated ANI video. However, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) issued its directive only on April 23, suggesting that the decision preceded the Commission’s involvement and was merely presented as a response to it. Bharadwaj also noted that the BJP’s claims of helplessness before the CAQM order were contradicted by their ministers’ public celebration of enforcement actions like seizures and raids.

Expressing frustration with certain mainstream media coverage—which suggested both AAP and BJP opposed such orders—he warned that newspapers publishing misleading reports could face formal complaints with the Press

Council of India. The former minister concluded by calling for a deeper investigation into the matter.