Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday accused neighboring states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of fueling pollution in the capital by deliberately sending diesel buses despite the ban in place. Rai made the allegations during a surprise inspection at the Kashmere Gate Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) to ensure strict implementation of Stage 3 guidelines of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap).

The BJP responded by saying that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was trying to shift blame rather than finding solutions to the pollution crisis.

At present, BS-3 petrol and BS-4 diesel four-wheelers are banned from plying in the city under the third stage of the Grap, which was rolled out on Thursday and came into force on Friday, to combat deterioration of air quality.

“The monitoring team of the transport department on Saturday issued challans to BS-4 diesel buses coming from Haryana and Uttarakhand. The BJP governments are deliberately sending these banned diesel buses to increase pollution in Delhi,” Rai said.

Under Stage 3, which is implemented when the air quality index crosses the 400 mark, only electric, CNG and BS-6 diesel interstate buses are allowed to enter Delhi .

Citing a Center for Science and Environment (CSE) report, Rai said only 30 per cent of pollution in Delhi comes from the city, while the rest comes from districts of the National Capital Region (NCR). .

Rai said that even though the Delhi government has implemented a summer action plan and a winter action plan to tackle pollution, the neighboring BJP-led governments are exacerbating the problem. “Diesel buses are coming to Delhi from Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, leading to increased pollution in these areas,” he claimed.

The minister said 84 teams from the transport department and 280 teams from the traffic police have been deployed to enforce the ban.

“In order to reduce pollution caused by vehicles, the movement of light vehicles with BS-3 petrol and BS-4 diesel engines (four-wheelers) has been banned. Further, Delhi-registered medium-sized diesel utility vehicles (MGVs) meeting BS-3 or below will not be allowed to ply in Delhi,” he said.

Diesel light commercial vehicles (LCVs) BS-3 and below registered outside Delhi are also not allowed to enter the city. However, vehicles transporting essential goods and providing essential services are exempt. Violation of these rules may result in a fine of ₹20,000.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “Daily media reports and departmental data show that 30% of the growing pollution in Delhi is caused by smoke from stubble burning in Punjab. The Delhi BJP has been constantly demanding that the Delhi government put pressure on its party government in Punjab to stop stubble burning, but Minister Gopal Rai has ignored these calls.”

“If diesel buses entered Delhi, it is the negligence of the Delhi government that is responsible. Gopal Rai must clarify what measures have been implemented at Delhi borders to prevent entry of diesel vehicles,” he added while urging Chief Minister Atishi to ask Rai to focus on substantive actions to control pollution instead of making empty statements.