NEW DELHI: In a relief to city residents, petrol pump operators in the national capital ended their strike on Thursday after receiving assurance from the Delhi government that the revised rates of pollution under control (PUC) checking will be revisited.
In an official statement, the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) said the meeting with the transport department yielded positive results, culminating in an agreement between the Delhi government and the agitating petrol pump operators, following which the association decided to call off the strike.
“The DPDA held a meeting with Principal Secretary (Transport) where it was decided that DPDA will immediately call off the strike and resume PUC operations in the interest of the general public of Delhi. He also agreed to relook into the aspect of further revision of rates based on the actual costs involved in the process. The DPDA would submit a detailed justification in this regard. In larger public interest, DPDA has decided to call off the strike of PUC centres at their petrol pumps,” the association announced.
The PUC centres had been closed since July 15 due to a dispute over increased PUC certification rates. The DPDA, which initiated the temporary shutdown of pollution checking activities in protest of the ‘inadequate’ hike in PUC certification rates, had argued that the revised charges did not reflect the rising operational costs of pollution checking.
The DPDA maintained that the increased PUC checking rates proposed by the Delhi government was insufficient to cover the expenses associated with running the centres.
Sources said the transport department will soon move a directive with a new set of revisions commensurate to the petrol pump operators’ demands. Meanwhile, the latest PUC certification rates will be implemented after a notification.
The PUCC charges were revised on July 11 after a gap of 13 years with an increase ranging from Rs 20-40. Petrol pump operators argued that the revisions did not consider inflation and the actual cost of maintaining these centres, highlighting that the operational costs, including wages and the cost of PUC checking implements, have significantly increased over the years, rendering the current fee hike inadequate.
Amid strike, over 1 lakh vehicles go untested
While the services of over 600 PUC centres operated by petrol pump dealers resumed their activities, the impact of the 10-day strike was felt as more than one lakh vehicles in the national capital, that would have otherwise been checked for pollution fitness, went untested due to closure of centres. The figure translates to an 84 per cent drop in the number of vehicles that underwent pollution checking. It also resulted in a monetary loss of nearly Rs 1 crore.
According to data collated from Centre-run e-VAHAN, between July 15 and 24 (the period when PUC centres were on strike), about 1,900 vehicles were tested on an average daily for PUC. The daily average for PUC checks stood at 12,602 vehicles between July 1 and 14.