In Delhi pilot project, cameras at fuel stations to check PUC validity
CCTV footage of vehicle registrations from cameras installed at two fuel stations is checked against PUC data from the Vahan database of the Union ministry.
The Delhi government has launched a pilot project to penalise vehicle owners who have not renewed their pollution under control (PUC) certificates, by checking their PUC status at fuel stations, officials aware of the proposal said on Friday.
As part of the pilot, CCTV footage of vehicle registrations from cameras installed at two fuel stations in north Delhi — at Model Town and Gulabi Bagh — is checked against PUC data from the Vahan database of the Union ministry of road transport and highways, officials said, adding that around 800 vehicles have been monitored per day starting September 13.
READ | Delhi govt mulls e-challans for violators of pollution certificate norms
“A private agency, which has technical expertise in the domain, has developed a mechanism which uses CCTV cameras to scan the registration number of vehicles coming to the fuel stations. These cameras have been installed at the entrance of the filling stations. Within seconds of the cameras scanning the registration number, the feed is relayed to computer monitors as well as mobile phones through the website of the agency. It flashes the status of the PUC of the vehicle after checking the status, and the PUC status is recorded in the website, and can be seen by authorised viewers,” a Delhi government official said, asking not to be named.
On April 21, HT reported that the project to check a vehicle’s PUC status will be based on automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) technology.
Delhi has 966 PUC checking centres, where the tailpipe emission standards of the vehicles can be checked by paying a nominal fee. According to transport department data, around 1.7 million active vehicles in the Capital do not have a valid PUC.
READ | PUC certificate must for refuelling vehicles in Delhi from October 25
Through the project, officials said, the government aims to check vehicular pollution — one of the contributors to the Capital’s poor air, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in November last year.
Section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act makes it mandatory for vehicles to have PUC certificates. The owner of a vehicle plying without a valid PUC certificate is liable to be prosecuted and may be imprisoned for up to three months or fined up to ₹10,000, or both. The government launches crackdowns on polluting vehicles from time to time — especially during the high-pollution winter months — to make people aware that the PUC certificate is a mandatory document.
An official from the transport department said that currently, the PUC status of the vehicle is just being recorded, and any challans will have to be sent manually. However, the plan is for violators to receive e-challans on the lines of challans which are sent for traffic infractions such as overspeeding or driving without a seat belt.
“The feed from the cameras is being monitored at PUC centres of the filling stations as well as at the transport department headquarters at Civil Lines. The pilot project will continue for two months to check how the system functions. The agency uses data from the mParivahan portal to check the PUC status,” the transport department official said.
“Some work is still left on the new system, because of which violators will not receive e-challans, as complete data regarding the vehicle and its movement is required to be sent to the National Informatics Centre on a real-time basis. In the meantime, we have decided to issue manual challans to violaters from the transport department’s pollution enforcement unit during the pilot period,” the official added.
Transport minister Kailash Gahlot did not respond to repeated requests for comment
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at CSE, said, “Vehicles are among the top contributors to Delhi’s poor air quality, therefore stringent monitoring of emissions from vehicles on the road is necessary to ensure that vehicles are maintained well and do not deteriorate... 100% compliance with basic PUC norms also requires credible and properly conducted PUC tests.”
Ajay Bansal, president of All India Petroleum Dealers Association, said, “It is a welcome move by the government, and the petroleum dealers will support the move. It will create awareness among people about vehicular pollution and encourage them to keep a valid PUC.”
During a spot check by HT at the Model Town fuel station on Friday, a commercial van registered in Haryana entered at 2:34pm, and its PUC status was reflected at a monitoring screen 15 seconds later.
PUC booth operator Mukesh Chandra went to the driver and asked him to show the PUC certificate, which showed that it had expired in August.
“The driver got his PUC check done on the spot and a new certificate was generated,” said Chandra.
Sri Bhagwan, the van driver, said he was not aware that his vehicle’s PUC had expired, and got it re-tested as soon as he was made aware of its status.
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