New Delhi [India], July 8 (ANI): A day after Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa highlighted the Delhi government's request to the Centre for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to delay the implementation of the policy regarding to end-of-life (EOL) vehicles in the national capital, the CAQM has stayed the policy till November 1.

The meeting was held at CAQM's office at Tolstoy Marg earlier today.

According to an official statement by CAQM, direction 89 will be amended to allow EOL to receive fuel from pumps till November 1.'The 24th meeting of the Commission for Air Qaulity in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) was held today, during which issue related to implementation of Direction no. 89 as flagged by GNCTD was deliberated upon,' the statement read.CAQM said the Delhi government brought attention to the issue in a letter on July 3, highlighting 'some operational and infrastrucural challenges in implementation of direction No 89 dates April 23, 2025,' it added.

The Delhi government's letter flagged challenges in implementation by citing that the Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system lacks the 'requiste robustness, with issues related to technological glitches, camera placement, working of sensors and speakers, and that the system is not yet full integrated with the database of neighbouring NCR states.'

Similarly, Chief Secretary Dharmendra also wrote a letter on July 7 saying the enforcement of geographically restricted end-of-life threshold to motor vechicles would lead to unfair treatment to vehicles here as other identical vehicles across the country can still function despite being much older.

Earlier on Monday, in an interview with ANI, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa flagged 'challenges and implementation flaws' in the CAQM order that put a ban on fuel for end-of-life vehicles in the national capital, stating that the process should be fair.

The Delhi Minister said there are operational and infrastructural challenges in implementing the Commission for Air Quality Management's (CAQM) directions concerning the fuel ban on end-of-life vehicles.

Delhi government last week urged CAQM to pause the implementation of its directions. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the decision is linked to the daily lives and livelihoods of millions of families, and there is a need for reconsideration. The directive to stop fuel supply to end-of-life vehicles took effect on July 1.

'Kejriwal (AAP) government in Delhi decided to put up the cameras and identify (end-of-life) vehicles from it. After it was communicated to CAQM, they informed the same to the Supreme Court. The top court termed it as a 'good move' and told them to implement it. CAQM issued an order to implement this from July 1,' Sirsa said.

CAQM had issued directions that diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years cannot get fuel in Delhi's fuel stations from July 1.

'From July 1, all End-of-Life (EoL) vehicles identified through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed at fuel stations across Delhi will not be allowed to refuel,' the directions said. (ANI)