December 18, 2025
NEW DELHI – As the air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the “severe” category, the Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government has announced a set of stricter anti-pollution measures to curb air pollution.
The stringent anti-pollution measures, including work from home, No PUC-No Fuel, and a ban on older vehicles, are set to take effect from Thursday, December 18.
These curbs are in addition to the GRAP-4 measures already announced by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and have been announced amid rising health concerns and public pressure to tackle the worsening air pollution.
No PUC, No Fuel in Delhi
Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Tuesday announced that vehicle owners without a valid PUC certificate will not be able to get fuel at petrol pumps from Thursday.
The PUC, or Pollution Under Control, certificates are issued to every vehicle by authorised centres after a mandatory pollution emission check.
If a vehicle does not have a valid PUC certificate, petrol pumps have been directed not to provide fuel to them.
Delhi Ban on vehicles carrying construction materials
The Delhi government has imposed a ban on trucks and other vehicles carrying construction materials from Thursday, December 18.
Environment Minister Sirsa has appealed to people coming to Delhi from other states to bring vehicles that comply with BS-6 emission standards.
“Trucks carrying construction materials into Delhi have also been banned… I appeal to people coming from outside Delhi to bring vehicles that comply with Bharat Stage 6 (BS6) emission standards,” he said.
Delhi Work from home mandate
Delhi Labour Minister Kapil Mishra announced on Wednesday that all businesses and offices in the national capital, both government and private, have been directed to operate at only 50 per cent capacity on-site, while the rest of the staff will have to work from home from Thursday.
“From Thursday, all government and private institutions must ensure 50% of their workforce is working from home. Strict action will be taken against violators,” he said during a press briefing.
However, healthcare professionals, essential services like fire, prison duties, public transport, municipal services, disaster management, and forest and environment have been exempted from this mandate.
Earlier, on December 13, the CAQM invoked the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) Stage IV with immediate effect after the city’s air quality plunged to the “severe” category.
SC allows ban on vehicles older than BS-IV
The Supreme Court on Wednesday modified its August 12 order, which barred action against older vehicles, clarifying that action can be taken against diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years that do not meet BS-IV emission standards.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, passed the order after the Delhi government submitted that such vehicles are adding to pollution and sought action against them to tackle the air pollution crisis.