Delhi’s new action plan 2026 promises to double the bus fleet, deploy more smog guns, and impose pollution-linked curbs on fuel sales. But experts warn of missing enforcement muscle and dodging hard decisions.

DELHI – The world’s most polluted capital has a new air quality action plan, but the Delhi state government is yet to release the details – more than a week after the Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced it.

A press release with sketchy details on the Air Pollution Mitigation Action Plan 2026 has been welcomed by experts and civil society, but cautiously; a follow-up draft electric vehicle (EV) policy has more details on how to phase out certain categories of fossil-fueled vehicles over the next two to three years to improve air quality. 

How effective are smog guns?

However, the government plans to double down on questionable measures such as anti-smog guns and water sprinklers on a “large scale”. According to an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi finding, spraying water had a very small impact on the small particulate matter in the air, PM2.5, and this was limited to an area up to 200 metres from the machine. 

Last year, the government released the Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025. Some of the policy proposals are the same, such as a curb on entry of old goods vehicles, the deadline for which has been postponed by a year. But the scale of other promises, such as a lot more buses and EV chargers, has grown significantly. 

Scepticism is understandable given that Delhi’s average PM2.5 pollution has hovered around 100 micrograms for the last seven years. Earlier this year, the government announced a target of a 15% reduction in the annual average PM2.5 level for 2026.  The new plan doesn’t mention this, but the list of promises is long and ambitious. 

Details of Delhi’s Air Pollution Mitigation Action Plan

Vehicular and transport curbs

• Curbs on fuel sale: ‘No PUC, No Fuel’ – vehicles without a pollution-under-control (PUC) certificate will not be sold fuel at pumps. Cameras will use digital tracking to identify them.
• Curbs on old goods vehicles: Starting 1 November 2026, only the most recent emission standard BS-VI (Bharat Stage), CNG (compressed natural gas), or electric goods vehicles will be allowed into Delhi. Last year’s plan had promised the same thing by 1 November, 2025. 
• Doubling the bus fleet: A target fleet of 13,760 buses by 2028-29, more than double the current 6,100, with a heavy focus on electric models. Last year’s plan promised 5,004 electric buses. 
• Adding more than three times the current number of EV charging points: 32,000 charging points over the next four years, almost triple the current 8,800, and a new EV Policy 2026 targeting commercial fleets. Last year’s plan promised 18,000 EV chargers.

Traffic and dust management

• Eliminating 62 traffic congestion Hotspots: Using an “Intelligent Traffic Management System”.
• Anti-smog guns for roads and large buildings: Large-scale deployment of mechanical sweepers and water spray systems to control dust.
• Paving & greening: 3,500 km of roads and the planting of 7 million trees and shrubs in a year. Incidentally, just weeks earlier, the chief minister had announced plans to recarpet 750 km of roads as a step to improve the air quality. 

Waste and construction monitoring

• Removing Delhi’s garbage mountains: South Delhi’s Okhla site by July 2026, North Delhi’s Bhalswa by December 2026, and East Delhi’s Ghazipur by December 2027. Past deadlines to rid the national capital of these towering landfills were missed. Seven months ago, the deadline set by Gupta for all three was December this year.
• AI Oversight: Rollout of portal for real-time, geo-tagged monitoring of construction sites to prevent dust leakages.
• Biomass ban: Complete ban on biomass burning with penalties for violators and the distribution of electric heaters as alternatives.

“Clean air is not a luxury, it is a fundamental right, and we are committed to delivering it,”  said Gupta at the launch, promising strict timelines, accountability, “new” solutions and engagement with the public and technical experts. 

However, experts and environmentalists point out measures in this list which need to change or are missing. The aim is to reduce pollution by reducing the sources of pollution.

‘Pollution-under-control’ system needs to change

Delhi’s traffic contributes to some 18% to 24% or air pollution, depending on the season. There are almost 8.8 million vehicles on the road, up 7.9% from the previous year. Over two-thirds are two-wheelers, while an estimated 1.2 million vehicles visit daily from neighbouring cities. 

Vehicles also account for 60% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in Delhi and neighbouring region, which can have devastating health effects, including higher risk of asthmatic attacks, coughing, wheezing, chronic lung disease, heart disease, strokes and lung cancer among others. NOx also contributes to the creation of other pollutants like ozone and fine particulate matter PM2.5, equally damaging to human health. 

Caption: Fossil fuel vehicles in Delhi without a valid pollution-under-control certificate will be barred from buying fuel, according to a proposed action plan by the government. Source: CMO Delhi’s account on Instagram.

But the PUC certificate, which the government has vowed to police, doesn’t measure NOx or PM2.5, which is a critical gap according to Amit Bhatt, managing director for India at the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), a research organisation.

“The key limitation of the existing PUC system is that it is a stationary test and does not capture emissions under real-world driving conditions.

However, the actual impact on human health occurs when vehicles are operating on the road. Therefore, it is important to reimagine vehicular emission testing to better reflect real-world conditions and align with public health priorities,” Bhatt told Health Policy Watch.

Bhavreen Kandhari, a prominent environmentalist, warns of another danger of continuing with the old PUC regime.

“Continued reliance on the PUC system, widely considered outdated/corrupt without scaling robust real-time emission monitoring, weakens enforcement,” says the founder of Warrior Moms, an air quality activist group.

New EV plan announced

However, the Delhi government has announced details for a new, draft EV policy, vehicles contributing up to almost a quarter of the megacity’s pollution and identified as the fastest growing pollution source. 

It promises a rapid push for EVs in all categories by providing incentives from subsidies for new EVs to incentives for scrapping fossil-fuel vehicles.

Proposed subsidies range from a few hundred dollars for two-wheelers up to about $2,500 for cars, and about $1,000 for trucks in the first year of the policy.

These incentives will be phased in, ending by 2030. Private EV four-wheelers don’t get any subsidies but are exempt from road tax and registration fees for vehicles costing up to about $32,000.

The policy also provides a roadmap for phasing out fossil-fueled vehicles in certain categories. Petrol and diesel vehicles will no longer be added to delivery and ride aggregator fleets in Delhi from this year, while only electric auto-rickshaws will be registered from next year, and only electric two-wheelers will be registered in Delhi from 1 April, 2028.

“The proposed Delhi EV Draft Policy 2026 is a significant step towards establishing a clean, accessible and sustainable transport system in the capital,” Chief Minister Gupta says.

Break-up of Delhi’s vehicular pollution 

The draft provides no data on how much each category contributes to the 24% of vehicular pollution in Delhi.  However, Health Policy Watch has learnt that a recent, yet-to-be-published study estimates that a quarter of vehicular pollution is from two-wheelers, which number over five million in Delhi.

The share of three-wheelers for goods is even more than this. Trucks of various sizes are estimated to contribute about a fifth of the pollution, while the share from private cars is under 10%. 

Notably, buses, which are either CNG-fueled or electric, contribute the least, which is why the government’s move to more than double the fleet holds promise.  

Are ‘smog guns’ effective?

A visible part of Delhi’s pollution control measures has been smog guns, atop trucks and buildings. These are essentially water-mist cannons and sprinklers. The new action plan persists with them to control dust and vehicular pollution. 

But a recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water pointed out that putting these on top of large buildings would cover less that 0.5% of Delhi’s area, or about 3-7 square km. This assessment was based on last year’s Air Pollution Mitigation Plan. The new criteria details are yet to be released. 

The truck-borne versions cover more distance as they drive along the main roads, spraying water, but their effectiveness in reducing pollution is equally questionable. 

A study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi found that while smog guns reduce average PM2.5 greatly immediately after sprinkling, the benefit reduces sharply over the next 2-3 hours, and the overall effect after 24 hours was 8%. The range of efficacy is limited to just about 100 to 200 metres on either side of the machine, the research found.

Measures like smog towers, cloud seeding and even smog towers have been called cosmetic changes and red herrings. While pollution control agencies have ditched smog towers, the Gupta government is planning to continue with cloud seeding trials this year again – despite last year’s fiasco and criticism – although the action plan doesn’t mention it. 

Action plan silent on firecrackers

But while there are gaps, several commentators have welcomed the new plan.

It offers “real hope”, says Jyoti Pande Lavakare, a clean air advocate and author of the memoir, “Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health”. 

But the critical missing piece, she says,  is the Delhi government’s silence on banning firecrackers. “Without a complete ban, at least from October to March, Delhi’s winter pollution peaks are unlikely to see a significant fall,” she wrote in an opinion piece. 

That, however, is not likely, as the Rekha Gupta government had gone to court to lift the ban and got it overturned. 

Kandhari calls for deeper reforms. Regional sources, including industrial pollution in NCR (national capital region) and non-compliant thermal power plants within a 300 km radius, remain insufficiently addressed, she points out. 

Governance challenges, staff shortages, weak enforcement capacity and fragmented institutions compromise implementation.

 “Overall, the plan prioritises visible, technocratic solutions while neglecting deeper structural and institutional reforms needed for sustained air quality improvement,” says Kandhari.

Old plan, but stiffer targets

HPW reached out to pollution-control officials for comment but had not received this at time of publication. 

Meanwhile, the government has promised a hard line backed by budgetary allocation and measurable outcomes. 

During the peak pollution season, October to January, when PM2.5 levels can be 30-40 times above the WHO’s safe guidelines, the government may consider staggered office timings, work-from-home directives and additional restrictions on polluting vehicles for immediate relief, which is the same as previous years. 

It all boils down to implementation. If the chief minister drives her new action and holds officials accountable for reducing pollution, old wine in a new bottle may still work.

Image Credits: Chetan Bhattacharji, CMO Delhi, CMO Delhi.