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Time of India
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Aam lovers unite in Delhi: 400 varieties, countless memories
Visitors were in awe of the variety of mangoes 'Kis kis ne ped se aam tod kar khaya hai?' Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's nostalgia-inducing question had mango lovers raising their hands in excitement on Day 1 of the three-day 34th Aam Mahotsav, hosted by Delhi Tourism at the Thyagaraj Stadium. Over 400 mango varieties on display, including quirky ones like shakkar cheeni, gulab jamun and chum chum, filled the venue with a sweet aroma. The CM was particularly surprised to see a variety which resembled litchi. The CM was particularly surprised to see a variety which resembled litchi. 'Woh bachpan ki yaadien aur garmi ki chhuttiyaan... woh nani ghar jaana, aur ek bade se pateele mein saare aam paani mein bhigo kar, ikhatthe baith kar khana, ya phir mango shake peena... Aam mein woh swaad hai jo jeevan ko rason se bhar deta hai. Aam humari sanskriti ka woh hissa hai jisko hum sabne behad pyaar se jiya hai. I am very happy to be here. ' A mini mango orchard and aam mascot were special attractions this year. With mangoes in one hand, a visitor is all smiles as she clicks a selfie at the festival Several regular attendees arrived at the annual mango celebration. Atul Jain, a regular, said, 'I have been attending the festival for 12 years. Mujhe jitni jaankari mangoes ki hai, woh yahin se mili hai. I am always curious to taste varieties that are not found in Delhi markets. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play this game for 3 minutes, if you own a mouse Undo I have brought varieties including mallika, golden and haafiz varieties.' Thousands of mango lovers enjoyed during the three-day fest Another visitor, Prashasti, said, 'The variety of mangoes will leave you confused. I usually eat a dasheri or sindoori, but I chose to buy gulab-khas and amrapali, which we don't usually get in Delhi.' 'Aam phalon ka raja hota hai, aur aam mahotsav ke iss edition mein humne uske scale ko dikhane ki koshish ki hai. This annual festival is a great tool to educate children about mango varieties, for people to rejoice mangoes and also enjoy a family outing,' Niharika Rai, MD and CEO, Delhi Tourism said Diversity on display While a few varieties resembled flavour profiles of other fruits like banana and strawberry, some mango varieties that drew the attention of visitors were named after animals like nagin, machhali and gajraj gola, and a few resembled apples, peaches and bitter gourd in appearance. Mango varieties with quirky names are an attraction as always Delhi's Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra and Delhi Tourism MD & CEO Niharika Rai Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said the Delhi government specially invited mango growers from across the country and provided them a platform for sale Top selling mango varieties at the fest were mallika, amrapali, surkha, malai kesar and deenga
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
End-of-life vehicles to be impounded in Delhi from tomorrow, owners will be penalised with up to ₹10,000 fine
Delhi will enforce the rule of no fuel for overage vehicles policy, under which petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years will not get fuel. Check Offers It is going to be a tough time for the older vehicle owners in Delhi, as the end-of-life (EOL) vehicles in the national capital will be seized from July 1, Tuesday. According to directions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) earlier, EOL vehicles detected at fuel stations or found parked at public places will be impounded. Besides that, the owners of the EOL four-wheelers will be slapped with a penalty of ₹ 10,000, while a fine amounting to ₹ 5,000 will be imposed on EOL two-wheeler owners, starting tomorrow. The petrol vehicles older than 15 years and the diesel vehicles older than 10 years will be considered as EOL vehicles. While according to the CAQM directive, these vehicles will not be given fuel at any of the fuel stations in the national capital, they will be impounded as well if found in public places. In order to detect the EOL vehicles in Delhi, around 500 fuel stations in the city have installed Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. The CAQM directions come amid poor progress in removing old, polluting vehicles from the NCR despite previous orders from the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). When a vehicle enters a fuel station, the ANPR camera will read the registration plate, and the data will be instantly checked with the central VAHAN database to detect the vehicle's age, fuel type and registration. The system will alert the fuel station staff not to refuel it if the system finds it as an EOL vehicle. This violation will be recorded and sent to enforcement agencies, who may then take action such as impounding and scrapping of the vehicle. PTI has quoted Delhi Transport Commissioner Niharika Rai saying that any EOL vehicle detected at the fuel stations will be impounded on the spot. Further, to discourage the use of EOL vehicles, penalties have been set for owners of impounded vehicles. EOL four-wheeler owners will be fined ₹ 10,000, while those who own EOL two-wheelers will have to pay ₹ 5,000, along with towing and parking charges. Also, the owners must submit an undertaking stating that the vehicles will not be used or parked at any public place and will be removed from Delhi's jurisdiction. The report stated that enforcement agencies will carry out regular drives to remove EOL vehicles from public places in Delhi and send daily reports to the environment department for submission to the CAQM. If an EOL vehicle is found on the road or parked in a public area, it will be seized and a seizure memo issued. All such impounded vehicles will be sent to a registered vehicle scrapping facility (RVSF). If the owner wants to move the vehicle out of Delhi, he or she has to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) within a year of the vehicle's expiry date. Five other NCR districts to roll out this mechanism from November 1 While the Delhi government is all set to initiate this system from July 1 to counter the menacing air pollution issue in the city, five other high vehicle density districts of NCR adjoining Delhi will roll out the same mechanism from November 1. These districts include Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Sonipat. The fuel stations in these districts will install the ANPR cameras for the same purpose, and this installation process is slated to be completed by October 31. The remaining NCR districts have been given time till March 31, 2026, to install the ANPR cameras, with fuel denial for EOL vehicles starting April 1, 2026. Delhi has 62 lakh EOL vehicles, including 41 lakh two-wheelers According to data shared by CAQM, Delhi currently has 62 lakh EOL vehicles, and 41 lakh of them are two-wheelers. The total number of EOL vehicles in the other NCR districts is around 44 lakh, and these are largely concentrated in the five high vehicle density cities mentioned above. Meanwhile, CAQM is preparing to issue a fresh order to implement the ANPR-based EOL vehicle detection mechanism at Delhi's 156 entry points for such vehicles as well as for buses and other heavy goods vehicles. Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date: 30 Jun 2025, 08:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
CNG cars get relief from latest Delhi govt action against old petrol and diesels
Starting July 1st, end-of-life diesel and petrol cars will be denied fuel at petrol pumps, impounded on spot, and sent for scrapping. Check Offers The Delhi government is enforcing a strict ban on refuelling and operating End-of-Life (EoL) vehicles, which will mark one of its biggest moves to tackle air pollution in the capital city. Starting July 1, 2025, diesel cars older than 10 years and petrol cars older than 15 years will be denied fuel at all fuel pumps in Delhi and subject to immediate seizure. The government has additionally stated that CNG cars older than 15 years are currently excluded from this ban and will not be denied fuel. These vehicles will be identified using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at the fuel pumps and will be impounded on the spot. Once seized, EoL diesel and petrol cars will be towed to a scrapping facility, said Niharika Rai, Delhi Transport Commissioner. Violators can, however, pay a fine and submit an affidavit in order to retrieve their vehicles. The new rules are to be enforced by joint teams of the Delhi Traffic Police, the transport department, and municipal bodies, stationed at pumps fitted with ANPR cameras. Also Read : Delhi govt to provide subsidies to promote electric vehicles through new EV policy, says CM Rekha Gupta The revised statement of purpose (SOP) issued by the Delhi government states, 'CNG vehicles shall not be denied fuel," adding that the ban applies strictly to diesel and petrol vehicles matching the specified criteria. How do ANPR cameras work? In a joint press conference on Friday, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said that these vehicles will be identified using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed at fuel pumps across the city. As a car enters the pump, the system captures the number plate and scans the VAHAN portal for registration details, fuel type and age. If the car gets flagged as an EoL vehicle, the fuel operator at the pump will receive an alert to deny service. These ANPR cameras are currently installed at 498 fuelling stations across Delhi, including 116 CNG pumps. While EoL CNG cars are exempt from this ban and will not be denied service, their PUC checks will still be conducted. Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date: 28 Jun 2025, 16:26 PM IST
India Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
No ban on CNG cars, but old diesel and petrol cars in Delhi to be seized
From July 1, the Delhi government will start one of its biggest campaigns to fight air pollution by acting against old vehicles on the roads. The plan was to ban 15-year-old CNG cars too, but for now, owners of such CNG vehicles have got relief. The focus will only be on 10-year-old diesel cars and 15-year-old petrol Transport Commissioner Niharika Rai said that teams will be sent to petrol pumps to make sure these old vehicles do not get fuel. But these teams will not be sent to CNG stations, so CNG vehicle owners do not need to worry at the action comes after the Supreme Court ordered that rules banning old vehicles must be strictly followed this year to reduce pollution. For this, Automatic Number Plate Reading (ANPR) cameras have been installed at petrol pumps across Delhi. These cameras will scan number plates, and if a car is older than the allowed age, the system will catch it. The transport department teams at the pumps will then stop fuel supply, seize the car, and send it for pump owners fear that stopping fuel could lead to fights and problems at the pumps. To handle this, Delhi Traffic Police will deploy extra police officers. More police will be sent to petrol pumps considered sensitive, while fewer officers will be posted at less crowded pumps. Joint Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police, Ajay Chaudhary, said they have already identified petrol pumps that may need 24-hour police security and those where there is a higher chance of old vehicles coming now, this strict enforcement will only be enforced in Delhi. The special ANPR cameras have not yet been installed in the neighbouring NCR cities of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat, but officials state their intent to install the cameras there by November 1 of this year. Until then, old vehicles from Delhi can be expected to try to get fuel by crossing into the neighboring there are no such cameras on the roads in Delhi or at its borders, these old vehicles can only be caught at petrol pumps. Officials said work has already been undertaken to get cameras on the borders of Delhi as well. In addition, those cameras will also be able to catch the old trucks and buses that do not comply with any pollution standards.- Ends advertisement
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Indian Express
Delhi bans fuel for old vehicles from July 1: How will defaulters be tracked?
Starting July 1, Delhi will stop supplying fuel to all overage vehicles. As part of this effort, the Transport Department, the Traffic Police, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will work together to identify hotspots that see a high number of such vehicles attempting to pass through the city. These vehicles will be identified by ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras that have been installed at 498 fuel stations, officials said Friday. According to directions issued earlier this year by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), all end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) — 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol ones — will be denied fuel starting Tuesday. From October 31, the plan comes into effect in five high-vehicle-density districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat. Niharika Rai, Secretary-Cum-Commissioner, Transport Department, said the number of ELVs arriving at a fuel station will be noted, as it could be a proxy for vehicle owners residing in nearby areas. Targeted action will be taken at such fuel stations, Rai said. 'Joint teams of the transport department, traffic police and MCD will be deployed at all identified fuel stations reporting a high number of such vehicles.' Ajay Chaudhary, Special Commissioner (Traffic), Delhi Police, said, 'The departments are still assessing how the teams should be deployed as a few fuel stations work around the clock, but others work for a few hours.' He emphasised that there will be no loopholes and the plan will be implemented stringently, as all staff at fuel stations have also been trained. The ANPR cameras have been installed at 498 fuel stations in Delhi, including 382 petrol or diesel stations and 116 CNG filling stations, and 3 ISBTs across the Capital, said CAQM officials on Friday. The cameras will cross-verify the number plates, captured in a few milliseconds, with the VAHAN database containing a vehicle's registration details, fuel type, and age. The fuel station operator would then receive an alert if the vehicle is flagged as an ELV. This will also be shared with enforcement agencies to take action, such as impoundment and scrapping. According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) for fuel stations, there has to be a mandatory display of signage on denying fuel to ELVs. Staff should be trained in implementing the drive. Station operators also need to maintain logs, either manual or digital, of such fuel denial instances and report them to the Transport Department weekly. The Transport Department will deploy teams at fuel stations where maximum visits of such ELVs are observed and take action against any violating fuel stations. It has to submit a list of violating fuel stations to the CAQM and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas every week. Dr Virender Sharma, Member-Technical at CAQM, said that although laws had been in place to not allow overage vehicles to ply in Delhi, as per the Supreme Court's 2018 directions, the liquidation of such vehicles can only be done by adopting stringent measures such as denying fueling. '… These steps will ensure better air quality, especially for Delhi's elderly and children, who suffer the most due to air pollution.' The CAQM also said in a statement on Friday, 'Delhi-NCR's transport sector contributes about 28% of PM 2.5, 41% of SO2, and 78% of NOX emissions to overall air pollution'. The enforcement mechanism -Targeted enforcement through ANPR camera data. Hotspots (fuel stations with high EVL numbers) to be identified -Joint agency deployment of Transport, Traffic Police, MCD department officials at fuel stations -Coordinated ops: A shared contact list of key officers will ensure smooth inter-agency coordination -Designated nodal officers at fuel stations will coordinate with enforcement -Police will be deployed to prevent issues arising out of fuel denial to overage vehicles -Transport Department will collect and share daily EVL identification and impoundment data to CAQM
