Guwahati, Dec. 10: The next time you hit the road on your bike or car, make sure you carry a valid pollution-under-control certificate along.

The Assam transport department has, under a pilot project, constituted a dedicated team to carry out random checks on vehicles and penalise owners who fail to produce a pollution-under-control certificate.

The team comprises about eight to 10 members, including the assistant commissioner of transport, district transport officer (registration and licensing), Kamrup, district transport officer (enforcement), Kamrup and other officials of the transport department.

The department in association with the Greater Guwahati Pollution Testing Association launched the project in Kamrup (metro) district today following a directive by the Centre.

'The objective of this project is to control vehicular pollution by making it mandatory for vehicle owners to possess a pollution-under-control certificate throughout. A majority of the private vehicle owners either do not possess certificates or fail to renew them,' a transport department official told The Telegraph.

The pollution-under-control certificate is a mandatory document for all categories of motor vehicles according to Rule 115 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. It is valid for six months, following which it has to be renewed. The fee charged for a certificate is Rs 85 for two-wheelers, Rs 110 for three and four-wheelers and Rs 115 for vehicles with more than four wheels.

'Through this project launched under the Centre's directive on climate change, we look to generate awareness about a pollution-free environment and the need to keep emissions from vehicles such as carbon monoxide and sulphur content under permissible limits,' the official said.

'We aim to cover all vehicles in Kamrup (metro) district to start with. The campaign would spread to the other districts of the state in phases,' the official said.

The Supreme Court had last month issued a notice to the Centre to enforce improved emission standards for vehicles across the country.

Sources in the state transport department said over seven lakh registered vehicles ply in the city currently.

'Of them, 70 per cent are private vehicles. We are looking to keep tabs on them through random checks. Today, we have distributed leaflets containing information about the authorised pollution-testing stations in the city,' the official added.