VIJAYAWADA: The Transport Department recently submitted a report on measures taken to curb vehicular pollution in the first two quarters of the previous year to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB).
As per the report submitted to the APPCB, it registered a total of 2,071 cases against vehicles plying without Pollution under Control (PUC) certificate in Vijayawada.
As many as 1,436 cases were registered in the first quarter (April 15 to July 15, 2019), while 635 cases were booked in the second quarter (July 15 to October 15, 2019). The department collected Rs 20,71,000 compounding fee from owners of vehicles without PUC certificate in the first two quarters of the previous year.
A total of 880 cases, including 328 in the first quarter and 552 in the second quarter were booked in Krishna district for overloading of vehicles. Driving licences of 109 drivers were suspended for violation of norms. The report was submitted after the APPCB had directed all the stakeholders to take steps as per the guidelines of the NGT and Centre under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to curb pollution.
Speaking to TNIE, APPCB Chairman BSS Prasad is of the view that the measures taken by the Transport Department were not adequate to curb vehicle pollution. "The Transport Department should have taken more measures to curb vehicle pollution in the district after the Centre issued orders in this regard. At present, the transport officials are conducting random checks to curb vehicular pollution, which need to be done more often. If not everyday, at least thrice a week. They need to be more strict in this regard," he said.
The APPCB Chairman attributed the high levels of air pollution in Vijayawada to the national highways passing through the city. “Vijayawada needs a bypass road like Guntur. We suggested construction of a bypass road long ago to curb vehicular pollution in Vijayawada. But the proposal has not been discussed so far by the authorities,” he said.
He further explained that heavy vehicles stop at least six to seven times on an average on the stretch of National Highway between Ramavarappadu Ring and Benz Circle due to traffic congestion during peak hours, which results in high smoke emissions.
"These are all heavy vehicles with 10 tyres and more. Whenever the driver stops and restarts the truck due to traffic congestion, the engines need more power to reignite, which leads to emission of thick black smoke," he said.
Prasad opined that the completion of Kanaka Durga flyover will help reduce traffic congestion in the city. "The two main causes of pollution in Vijayawada is smoke emitted by vehicles and dust on roads due to several reasons such as construction activity and transportation of coal, sand and other material without being covered properly. Once the Durga flyover is thrown open, the vehicles coming from Hyderabad will not enter the city reducing traffic congestion," he said, underlining the need to complete the project at the earliest.
"Levying penalty of 10 times the applicable rate for overload is not permitted under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. Compounding fee of Rs 2,000 in addition to Rs 1,000 per extra tonne can only be levied as per the existing norms," stated the Transport Department, in its report.
It also stated that the 41 pollution checking centres in the city are sufficient. Contrary to it, Prasad opined that the city needs more number of PUC checking centres. Meanwhile, the Transport Department has come up with a proposal of universal linking of PUC centres with the remote server by April 15 to eliminate manual intervention in the vehicle testing process.