NEW DELHI: Authorities at fuel stations and border check posts have stepped up enforcement a day after the Supreme Court tightened restrictions on vehicles with engines below BS-IV standards, and the Delhi government directed petrol pumps to refuse fuel to cars without a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate.

On Wednesday, the SC had ruled that only vehicles with BS-IV engines and above will be exempt from action amid worsening air pollution. The government announced that from Thursday, no non-BS VI private vehicle registered outside Delhi would be allowed into the city, and cars without a valid PUC certificate would be denied fuel.

At the Delhi-Noida and Ghazipur borders, officials said challans ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 are being issued to vehicles without a valid PUC. Cars entering Delhi from Noida or other neighbouring areas that are found to be below BS-IV or BS-VI standards are being turned back.

“We are checking the PUC certificates, especially in the case of older model cars and are imposing necessary fines on them,” a traffic official at the Delhi-Noida border said.

Since the ban came into effect, “we have found very few such vehicles crossing the border area today,” a traffic police official at the Ghazipur border added.