New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- The Delhi government on Tuesday announced a raft of vehicular restrictions to tackle the toxic air enveloping the Capital this winter as stronger winds dissipated pollutants and pushed air quality into the "very poor" category, helping break the dubious streak of three "severe" air days. City environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa dismissed criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party government's record of fighting pollution, and said that no vehicle registered outside Delhi with emission standards lower than BS VI - which came into effect in April 2020 - will be allowed to enter the city from Thursday. He also said that vehicles without a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate in Delhi will not be allowed to refuel at petrol pumps from Thursday, and that trucks with construction materials - construction is banned across the national capital region as part of Stage four of the Graded Action Plan (Grap) - will be seized on the spot. "It is impossible for any elected government to reduce AQI in 9-10 months. I apologise for the pollution in Delhi. We are doing better work than the dishonest AAP government, and we have reduced AQI each day. This disease of pollution is given to us by the Aam Aadmi Party, and we are working to fix it," Sirsa said in the press conference. Written statements issued by the government hours later clarified that the order on vehicles will only be applicable under Grap 3 - which is clamped when the AQI breaches 400 - and 4, which comes into effect when the AQI crosses 450. The statements also said that the ban on trucks carrying construction material will be applicable under Grap 4. "If a vehicle is Delhi registered then it can ply here, but we are giving non-Delhi registered vehicles below BS VI time till tomorrow to leave if in Delhi. From Thursday, we will take action against such vehicles," Sirsa said at the press conference, adding the restrictions applied to all types of vehicles - private and commercial. "All dealers of the petrol/diesel/CNG pumps are directed to dispense or sell these fuels to motor vehicles only on production of valid Pollution under Control Certificate (PUCC)," he said. Currently under Grap 4, non-Delhi registered vehicles with emission standards under BS IV - which was implemented in 2017 - are not allowed to enter the Capital. Similarly, construction is already banned under Grap 4. In effect, the new orders on Tuesday represent an incremental effort in tackling the sheets of poisonous air that regularly blanket the Capital every winter, jeopardising the lives of its 25 million residents, causing untold health impairments, and harming India's global reputation....