Delhi’s air pollution mitigation plan 2025 is promising but requires more integrated efforts

Delhi’s Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025 is the capital’s latest attempt to clean its choked air and grey skies. Even though the plan rightly focused on solutions like public transport-centric electric mobility, restriction on polluting vehicles and ban on end-of-life vehicles, but the puzzle remains incomplete due to a lack of comprehensive approach to address the city’s pollution woes. Without a deeper systemic approach and regional cooperation, Delhi’s toxic air may continue to haunt its residents.

At the heart of the plan lies a push for electrifying trips through electric buses and autos. The city aims to roll out around 5,000 electric buses and 2,300 electric autos as a feeder to metro systems. Additionally, an ambitious target of installing 18,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations should support in creating EV ecosystem to accelerate the transition in other segments as well.

Replacing 80 per cent government vehicles with electric vehicles can serve as an effective quick-win strategy to accelerate electrification further. These steps are already in sync with Delhi’s EV policy and offer a cleaner alternative to the fossil fuel-dominated mobility in the city.

The plan also highlights the use of intelligent road traffic management systems in reducing waiting time; comprehensive assessment of parking requirements and enforcement of parking management area plan; implementation of street design guidelines to create non-motorised and green mobility infrastructure in the city.

Restricting vehicles is another bold move discussed in the plan. From July 2025, end-of-life vehicles will be banned from entering the city. From November, only BS-VI, CNG and electric commercial vehicles (including large goods vehicles, medium goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles) will be allowed entry into Delhi. Both the interventions shall be enforced through Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems at border points to ensure strict compliance. These measures target one of the key contributors to local pollution — outdated, high-emitting vehicles.

The outline talks about strengthening of existing pollution under control (PUC) programme through provisioning of bi-annual mandatory audits of PUC centres for operational integrity. Also proposed to amend PUC regulation to make it more effective.

On road dust, the plan prioritises the paving of roads and vegetation along medians, while 1,000 water sprinklers, 140 anti-smog guns and 70 mechanical sweepers will be deployed year-round. Cloud-seeding pilots and installation of mist sprayers at 13 pollution hotspots have been added as supplementary measures.

The strategy for construction and demolition waste requires commercial buildings larger than 3000 square metres to have anti-smog guns and mandated online registration of construction sites exceeding 500 square metres with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to ensure compliance with regulations.

Closure of polluting industries, banning of coal from industrial use, strong vigilance on all industries through online continuous emission monitoring systems was recommended. The plan also advocated for a new industrial policy for the city to shift to service-based industries.

Moreover, the strategy includes crucial infrastructure improvements to address pollution, such as installation of sprinklers and anti-smog guns, improvement of industrial roads and creation of dedicated e-waste park. 

The document put emphasis on liquidating legacy solid waste through bio-mining at three sanitary landfill sites. It also called for ensuring net-zero waste by September 2028 through upgrading the existing and creating new waste processing plants.

The proposal emphasised the importance of reducing biomass burning by requiring residents' welfare associations, market traders' associations, government and private offices to supply electric heaters to security personnel and other staff during the winter.

And finally, for better regulatory oversight, the plan promised to install additional six air quality monitoring stations at new locations. 

Plugging gaps

Even though Delhi’s electrification vision is ambitious, electrification alone won’t solve Delhi’s transport crisis. The absence of a unified transport planning framework undermines the city’s ability to manage mobility efficiently.

Integrating various modes like the metro and bus is crucial — both in terms of service and fare integration to attract more commuters to the transit. Similarly, connecting transit services with efficient and reliable last-mile services and well-designed non-motorised infrastructure is the need of the hour. 

With the National Capital Region (NCR) expanding, seamless travel across Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad demands a multi-modal, integrated transport system backed by a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority. Today, the lack of coordination leads to disconnected routes, poor last-mile options and rising private vehicle use — all of which worsen air quality.

The plan also misses a crucial opportunity to introduce remote sensing-based vehicle emissions monitoring. This technology identifies high-polluting vehicles in real time, allowing for targeted enforcement. Pilot studies in India have shown promising results. If Delhi institutionalises this, it could revolutionise how on-road emissions are managed.

Another ignored source of pollution lies in household biomass burning. Many low-income households, especially in unauthorised colonies and informal settlements, still rely on wood, dung and coal for cooking and heating. This not only contributes to PM2.5 levels but also disproportionately affects women and children. Delhi needs a clean household energy strategy that includes expanding LPG / PNG networks, promoting electric cooking and offering targeted subsidies.

Delhi’s air is not Delhi’s alone. Studies by IIT Kanpur, TERI ARAI and SAFAR have repeatedly shown that transboundary pollution — from crop residue burning to industrial emissions from NCR towns — plays a significant role, particularly in winter months. Yet, the plan offers no concrete roadmap for regional coordination. Effective air quality management demands joint action plans with neighbouring states, backed by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). The state can’t fight a regional crisis with a city-only strategy.

Implementation, the Achilles’ Heel

Like many well-intentioned policies in India, the success of Delhi’s Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025 will depend on its implementation. We have already seen that despite having comprehensive long, medium- and short-term plans prepared by CAQM, they're yet to bear fruit due to weak implementation.

Thus, actual credibility of the plan depends on its execution across all pollution sources — transport, industry, households and natural dust. Without that, the targets will remain on paper, while Delhi’s residents continue to breathe toxic air.

Delhi has shown that it can lead. It was the first city to switch its bus fleet to CNG, among the first to draft a robust EV policy and has repeatedly brought air pollution into public discourse. Now, Delhi needs to move from reactive piecemeal interventions to a comprehensive system approach to turn the corner on its decades-long pollution crisis.