New Motor Vehicle Act: Three-fold rise in people applying for pollution certificates in Chandigarh
Penalty for carrying an expired PUC certificate has been increased from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000
Following the enforcement of the amended Motor Vehicle Act, the fear to pay the penalty for an expired Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate has lead to a three-fold increase in the number of people applying for the same in a week.
The penalty for carrying an expired PUC certificate has been increased from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000. As per the data available with the state transport authorities (STA), from August 25 to 31, 1,137 people applied for a PUC on an average in a day in one of the 35 active centres where the test is conducted.However, after the amended act was implemented, the average went up to 3,987 vehicles a day from September 1 to 7, depicting a three-fold increase.
As per Section 190(2) of the Act, violating control of noise and air-pollution will cost ₹10,000 with up to one year jail and disqualification of driving license. Penalty will be double for second time offenders.Traffic police said, no challans have been issued for this yet.
General secretary of Chandigarh Petroleum Dealers Association, Amandeep Singh, said. “Earlier, people did not take the pollution certificates seriously but now, nobody wants to pay the hefty fine so, people are getting their papers in order. Many vehicles have failed to get clearance though.”
Singh said, “The pollution test has to be done every six months and costs ₹50. The exhaust of the vehicle is checked to see the percentage of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.”
Rush increases
Proprietor of Mann Filling Station in Sector 49, Anil Manrao, said, although the rush has increased, some snags have come up. “The STA needs to upgrade its software as it has been crashing frequently. We upload all the PUC related data via the Vaahan app, but due to the increased inflow of data, the servers are down most of the times.”
Co-owner, HP Petrol Pump, Sector 19-A, Raghav Verma said, due to the new Act, there has been an increase everywhere, but petrol the pumps situated along the highways have been witnessing huge rush of cars.
Meanwhile, residents who have to wait for longer hours are unhappy.
A resident of Sector 33, Dr Raman Sra, who is unable to get back from work before 5pm, said, either all the centres are closed or overcrowded. Chairperson of CRAWFED, Hitesh Puri said he has two diesel cars nearing the date of expiration, but the long queues were acting as a deterrent.
Penalty for carrying an expired PUC certificate has been increased from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000
