New Delhi: The transport department will soon track and penalise vehicles with no pollution under control (PUC) certificates by putting up cameras in 25 petrol pumps that will capture a vehicle’s number plate that will be tallied with data for a valid certificate.
As a pilot project, the department has this tracking provision in four fuel stations, which it has decided to 25 after seeing violators’ data that shows that around 15-20% of vehicles entering the four petrol pumps did not have a valid PUC.
Track the pollution level in your cityA senior department official said: “We have seen that around 20% of people coming to these four petrol pumps do not have valid PUCs. So, we have decided that the number (of pumps) would be increased to 25.”
“These 25 stations are spread across Delhi,” he said. The department did not give the locations, fearing it could lead to people avoiding these pumps and loss of business for the owners. He said that the pump owners were taken into confidence and the project should go live in ten days.
The department is also working on generating e-challans so that the violators are straightaway sent the challans. Currently, the department does it manually. “A private agency that has technical expertise is helping us with the data which is cross-examined by the department,” he said.
The four pumps that were part of the pilot run are near Yamuna Vihar, Model Town and near North Delhi.
Around 2,500 vehicles enter these four stations daily, out of which over 400 are found to not have valid PUCs, officials said.
At present there are over 950 petrol pumps in Delhi that issue PUCs.
A senior official of the transport department said this was primarily because many people have the tendency to not pay challans and run their vehicles. “Most of these people use their vehicles locally and avoid being caught but with the technology being installed in petrol pumps, they will not be able to dodge the authorities,” he said. “A valid PUC is not just about following rules but preventing pollution,” he said.
The department issued challans to 49,065 vehicles, according to the outcome budget report of the Delhi government for 2022-2023.
Under Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, every motor vehicle, including those conforming to BS-I/II/III/IV and those plying on CNG/LPG, has to carry a valid PUC certificate after the expiry of one year from the date of registration.
However, the validity is one year for four-wheeler BS IV-compliant vehicles and three months for others.
At present, INR 60 is paid for pollution tests of two-wheelers in Delhi, INR 80 for petrol-powered four-wheelers and INR 100 for diesel-powered four-wheelers. A GST of 18% is levied separately. .
