BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government has made the online pollution certificate mandatory from October 1. The certificates issued manually by pollution testing centres will be treated as invalid after September 30.After the amended Motor Vehicle (MV) Act raised the fine for violation of air/noise pollution by a vehicle to `10,000, the vehicle owners scrambled for Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates. Considering the rush, the Commerce and Transport department had relaxed it for one month to enable the pollution testing centres to cater to huge demand.
PUC certificate issued online can be shown in electronic form through mParivahan Application and is not mandatory for the vehicle owners to carry the certificate as per the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000.
Of 163 pollution testing centres in the State registered so far, 106 have already been linked with VAHAN to issue online PUC certificates. As many as 69,210 certificates have been issued online between September 1 and 20.
“The PUC certificates issued by the testing centres linked online would be accepted from October 1. The vehicle owners who fail to get the certificate will be fined as per the provisions of the law,” said a department official.
As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notification, the emission results obtained during pollution testing will be electronically uploaded in VAHAN. The testing fee for two and three-wheelers is `60, while it is `100 for light motor vehicle and `150 for medium and heavy vehicle along with GST as applicable.
The official informed that the list of valid and new authorised pollution testing centres which are linked to VAHAN along with the detailed procedure to apply for setting up new testing centre are available at www.odishatransport.gov.in and www.orissatransport.nic.in.
The Commerce and Transport department has authorised 14 new pollution testing centres after the amended Act was implemented on September 1.
‘Upload vehicle
info to VAHAN’
Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Monday reiterated the necessity of linking all vehicle information with VAHAN database to avoid harassment and inconvenience to citizens. The information would be available to citizens in electronic form in mParivahan and e-Challan platforms. The Ministry, in a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states, has stressed adopting the online step urgently as the provisions of amended MV Act for driving vehicle violating air pollution standards are in force. As per directions of the Supreme Court, the Ministry had earlier issued a notification for amendment in the rule 115 of central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 for linking of PUC certificates with VAHAN database. The States and Union Territories have been asked to ensure that all PUC centres upload emission test data electronically to VAHAN as per guidelines issued in compliance with SC directions.