NEW DELHI: The pressure to contain air pollution levels in the city before the Commonwealth Games seems to have sent the government into a tizzy with the transport department going on an overdrive to prosecute vehicles without valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates. Chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, too, wrote to the department last month asking for monthly action reports on compliance. Though Delhi seems to be complying the number of vehicles getting PUC testing done has doubled in the last quarter over 10 lakh vehicles coming into the city from National Capital Region (NCR) towns daily are a matter of concern.
In the past two months, the transport department has prosecuted a whopping 15,000 vehicles for non-compliance which is perhaps the highest ever seen in such a small span of time in the recent past. "The prosecution has also had an impact on the number of vehicle owners getting PUC testing done, which has increased from about 18 lakh annually to almost 36 lakh now,'' said R K Verma, transport commissioner.
About 10 lakh vehicles coming into the capital from NCR towns like Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad are a major area of concern as there is virtually no pollution testing in these cities. The Delhi government had a proposal to carry out pollution testing at all the entry points to the city. But the testing is yet to start. The transport department has written to the government for funds to the tune of Rs 20 crore for testing equipment to be installed at eight major entry points of the city. "As soon as the funds get sanctioned, we will start checking vehicles for pollution levels at the borders. This is expected to happen before the Games,'' Verma added.
Meanwhile, Environment Pollution (Control) Authority (EPCA) chairman Bhure Lal wrote to the governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh asking them to not permit polluting vehicles into the capital around the time of the Games. He also said in his letter that traffic not destined for Delhi should bypass the city during that time. "From what we have seen of the PUC drive in Delhi, it seems that the transport department is doing a good job. We will be taking a review of the situation on Saturday,'' said Bhure Lal.
EPCA officials also said that with Delhi having shifted to Euro-IV fuel, there was also an urgent need to upgrade the PUC norms. "Since we have moved to a much cleaner fuel, the older norms, that in any case were lax, need to be tightened. The testing centre at Burari also needs to be upgraded. All these issues will be discussed on Saturday.'' said Bhure Lal.
As per the law, all vehicles plying in the city are required to carry a valid PUC certificate after one year from the date of first registration. Thereafter, the certificate is renewed every three months after a check from a certified PUC centre. Any vehicle found without a valid certificate is liable to be prosecuted under Section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, under which there is a fine of Rs 1,000 for first offence and Rs 2,000 for every subsequent violation.
At present, there are a total 326 government-approved computerised checking centres for petrol and CNG vehicles at different petrol pumps and workshops and another 169 such checking centres for diesel vehicles which issue the certificates around the city. The fee is Rs 35 for two-wheelers, Rs 45 for four-wheelers running on petrol and Rs 60 for all diesel vehicles.
