EPCA to go after polluting vehicles: Chairperson Bhure Lal

Amid severe deterioration of air quality in the national capital, Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) Chairperson Bhure Lal has assured that the Supreme Court-appointed body would go after vehicles causing pollution in the city.

He also said people should have abided by the direction of the Supreme Court on bursting of firecrackers in the stipulated time frame of 8pm to 10 pm.

On Thursday, a thick haze engulfed Delhi as it recorded its worst air quality of the year the morning after Diwali, with the pollution level ten times the permissible limit due to rampant bursting of toxic firecrackers in gross violation of a Supreme Court order, authorities said.

Lal said with the deterioration in the air quality, "the EPCA would go after polluting vehicles, which are increasing the pollution".

We would be able to identify the polluting vehicles by the colour of the sticker they have, he said.

The Supreme Court in August had accepted a proposal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), which told the top court that hologram-based light blue colour sticker would be used in vehicles using petrol and CNG fuel, while an orange sticker would be put on diesel-run vehicles.

The date of registration of the vehicle would also be printed on these stickers, the ministry had told the court.