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Despite PUC paper, polluting vehicles in NCR will lose permits

Newly-implemented Graded Response Action Plan comes down hard on visibly polluting units as air quality in Delhi continues to be in ‘very poor’ category

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Under the newly-implemented Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to tackle pollution in the Capital, visibly polluting commercial vehicles in Delhi’s neighbouring states will end up losing their permits, even if carrying a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate. Air quality in the national Capital continues to be in the ‘very poor’ category.

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) has asked the monitoring agencies to prepare a mechanism to prosecute such vehicles and the direction is all set to be implemented in the coming days.

In a meeting held on Friday to discuss the implementation of GRAP, it was decided that the stated measure was crucial to curb emissions from vehicles, a major contributing factor to air pollution.

“In a study, it was found that commercial vehicles, in particular the trucks entering Delhi from the neighbouring states, had PUC certificates but still emitted a lot of smoke. This was because the owners or drivers of these vehicles procured certificates without actually getting the vehicles checked. It is a major violation of norms,’ a senior government official said.  

He added that agencies, including the Transport Department, Traffic Police and the state transport boards, have been asked to set up a mechanism to challan these vehicles.

“These visibly polluting vehicles will be challaned, and in case of repeating the offence, the license will be cancelled. It is important to come down hard on these vehicles, as they have been found to be habitual offenders,” the official added.

Representatives of the Delhi government’s Transport Department, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), state pollution control boards, Traffic Police, and municipal corporations, among others, were present for the meeting.

“It was also decided that the Delhi government will deploy mobile vans to rein in the polluting vehicles. UP, Haryana, and Rajasthan transport boards have been asked to give non-destined vehicle data,” the official said.

On January 14, pollution in Delhi was 5.2 times the standard and crossed the emergency level. On January 21, it was in the severe category — 4.5 times the prescribed standard.

“The pollution levels have continued to be more than double the standard throughout this month. On January 14, the levels in residential areas crossed the 500 mark in RK Puram (9 times the standard), whereas it was more than 400 in Punjabi Bagh and Siri Fort (7 times the standard),” according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Besides, the EPCA has asked the state governments of Haryana, UP, and Rajasthan to waive off the value added tax (VAT) on CNG. Also, the Delhi Metro has been asked to increase the number of coaches and to submit a plan regarding this at the earliest.

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