HYDERABAD: The absence of an organised system for vehicle health check-ups in the State is a major concern raised by pollution experts.
They claim that the existing PUC system has various drawbacks, including the possibility of tampering with the certification due to its manual nature and the non-availability of an online database for vehicular checks. In a bid to address these issues, the State Transport Department is soon going to launch a digital and centralised PUC certification system.
Officials from the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) said that they had already flagged the issue before the Transport Department. “We have requested the Transport Department to implement a better PUC management system to curb air pollution in the city,” said an official from TSPCB.
As of now, it is easier for anyone to obtain a false PUC certification for Rs 100-200 in the city. "The current PUC system is manual, due to which anyone can manipulate it to produce a fake PUC certificate with a bribe. To stop this, we have developed a digitised and centralised system, which will be launched in a month," said C Ramesh, Joint Transport Commissioner.
Stating that the system will be tamper-proof, he said, “The pollution levels recorded by the device now will now directly be uploaded on the online system. Only if the standards are met will a PUC certificate will be generated. This way, we will also have a record of unhealthy vehicles in the State.” The official informed that a Noida-based software firm, Swift Chip, which is currently working on the system, will also maintain the database with the help of Telangana State Technology Services for the next seven years.