NEW DELHI: Delhi’s fight against air pollution will get a boost as the entire NCR (National Capital Region) spanning districts in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan is set to go green with BS-VI petrol and diesel from Tuesday, six months ahead of the countrywide deadline for switching to the new fuel.

TOI had on July 8 first reported that 80% of the NCR, including four districts in Rajasthan and eight districts in UP as well as the city of Agra, had switched to BS-VI fuels from April and the remaining parts will be covered by October.

On Monday, India’s largest fuel retailer IndianOil said 2,200 retail outlets of all the state-run retailers will start selling BS-VI grade fuels in seven remaining districts of Haryana from Tuesday to cover the entire NCR. These districts include Faridabad, Gurugram, Mahendraghar, Rewari, Jhajjar, Palwal and Mewat.

Delhi had switched to BS-VI fuels from April 1, 2018, two years ahead of the national deadline under orders from oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Amid public outcry over the capital’s poor air quality in November 2017, Pradhan ordered state-run fuel retailers to supply BS-VI fuels to the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi from April 1, 2018, two years before the deadline, and introduce them in the NCR by April 2019.

NCT refers to the state of Delhi, while the NCR extends to regions in neighbouring states and sometimes also includes Sonipat and Bahadurgarh. The NCR accounts for 10% of fuel sales in the country, consuming 1,05,000 tonne of petrol and 3,10,000 tonne of diesel in a year