Delhi PUC centres were rigging reports

NEW DELHI: Delhi government has created a crisis of sorts by putting the onus of checking pollution under control certificates on petrol pumps. While the pumps are quite apprehensive about the situation–– anticipating a law and order problem––car owners are worried that they will get stuck in long queues. They all argue that it’s a matter of enforcement which should be tackled by imposing penalties and that such coercive tactics won’t work.Hamstrung by a severe shortage of enforcement staff, the government seems to believe that it has delivered a masterstroke.
With only a hundred-odd personnel in its enforcement team, the transport department says it cannot have PUC checking drives everyday. These men are on duty elsewhere too–– for instance, at the border for violations by commercial vehicles as well as within the city.
One will have to wait and watch to see how effective this proves to be. The deadline, December 1, is about a week away. However, a larger question is whether the entire exercise will make a substantial dent in pollution. Also, it is important to ask whether the kiosks that pass off as pollution control centres are equipped for the job. At a time when procedures and processes are being simplified, some may consider it to be an ordeal to do this every three months.
Transport experts admit that with private vehicles accounting for a large number of new vehicles getting registered in Delhi every year–– more than 60%––pollution check is a must. In 2000, the government had fixed a schedule of every three months, based on recommendations of the committee set up by Supreme Court. New vehicles are exempt from this for a year, as are private vehicles registered after 2010. Also, since 2013, vehicles that are Bharat Stage IV compliant need to get a PUC certificate only once a year. All other vehicles however, have to do it every three months.
T K Malhotra of Automobile Authority of Upper India (AAUI) says that with technology upgradation in the automobile industry, getting a PUC every three months is not required. “The new vehicles are quite advanced and follow emission norms, especially the BS-IV vehicles. What is required is frequent and proper maintenance of the vehicles,” he adds. For older vehicles, feels Malhotra, the three-month check-up could be mandatory.
Interestingly, an audit by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) last year found that a large number of pollution control centres––especially the ones near the borders–– were inadequately staffed, used pirated software that fudged emission data for the certificate and had equipment that didn’t adhere to the standards set by the transport department.
The report, in fact, was damning: it found that the centres didn’t follow test procedures, flouted basic norms of calibrating instruments and had operators who didn’t know what the pollution testing equipment was designed to do. The audit also found that when vehicles failed standard testing procedures, PUC certificates were issued after recording false figures.
In the case of CNG and other than Bharat Stage-II vehicles, pass certificates were awarded even if value of oxygen was found too high due to a broken silencer. The report added: “Calibration of instruments and analyzers is an important requirement for assessing reliable and accurate data. At most centres, operators were not aware about the importance of calibration though they had training certificates for the same,” said the CPCB report.
That these centres are not checked by the transport authorities concerned is apparent from the fact that licences of only a handful of centres have been revoked in the past year, mostly for not paying the licence fee. The CPCB report found that transport department officials had not visited the centres they had audited for several months. Admitted a senior government official: “The RTO doesn’t have any means of checking the authenticity of PUC certification.” And while monthly reports are submitted by these centres to the transport department, it’s usually a revenue exercise. The number of vehicles that have been rejected after a pollution under control test is negligible, according to reports submitted.
SP Singh of Indian Foundation for Transport and Research (IFTRT) says: “Poor maintenance and poor fuel quality are responsible for pollution. But enforcement is key ––if you do away with human interface, then perhaps enforcement will be better.” In 2000, when Supreme Court had ordered mandatory pollution checks, it had also asked that an automated inspection and maintenance system be set up as soon as possible. More than 14 years later, inspection and maintenance (I &M) remains a manual exercise for commercial vehicles. The lack of an automated I&M has resulted in fitness certificates being issued to commercial vehicles without proper inspection and has also created scope for corruption.
There are 388 centres for petrol and CNG vehicles and 273 centres for diesel vehicles. The number of PUC certificates issued every month (to private vehicles) is around four lakhs, say officials, with the percentage of compliance in private vehicles being less than 30%.