Finally, transport department tackles vehicular pollution in Chennai
CHENNAI: Deterioration in city air quality has put the focus back on vehicular pollution. Though the Motor Vehicles Act mandates that all vehicles that have spent over a year on road must obtain a pollution under control (PUC) certificate once every six months, it’s barely adhered to, due to lack of monitoring.
As per an official report last year, over 90 per cent of vehicles obtained pollution under control certificate only once in 2017. Presently, motorists are forced to produce emission certificate for their vehicles while obtaining driving licence, claiming insurance, modifying records of vehicle, including change of address, name change and other corrections.
Though the State government has attributed the sudden change in air quality to low moisture level in sea breeze and drop of cloud cover, Commissioner of Revenue Administration J Radhakrishnan, said on November 11 that 15 per cent of air pollution was caused due to vehicular emission.
Shoddy enforcement of pollution control certificate for vehicles is said to be the result of insufficient testing centres and lack of resources in transport department. According to industry sources, the State has 332 authorised emission testing centres and many are not willing to open new centres.
The proprietor of an emission testing centre on ECR said, “I hardly get one or two goods carrying vans for certificate a day - using which I will not be able to meet the day-to-day demands. Since the centre is attached to a petrol outlet, I manage my expenses,”. On June 1 last year, Union ministry of Road Transport and Highways ordered linking vehicle emission certificates to Vahaan software in RTO offices.
The move was proposed with an objective to track pollution levels of worn out vehicles electronically. The ministry also fixed a deadline of April 1 for implementing the linking, but it is yet to be implemented in the State. When contacted, a senior transport official said RTOs and inspectors have been asked to launch a special drive to check emission levels.
“Vehicles which do not have emission certificates will be penalised `1000. Fitness certificate will be cancelled for those vehicles which fail in emission test.”