The computerised auto emission testing station at Beltola. Picture by Eastern Projections

April 6: The city’s first computerised auto emission testing station will come up at Rani Market in Beltola Tinali tomorrow.

The station, to be inaugurated by transport commissioner Bolendra Basumatary, will check vehicular pollution.

It will have a computerised auto emission testing equipment fitted with a web camera that will capture the image of a vehicle’s rear number plate, process the emission caused by the vehicle through a computerised pollution-testing machine and generate a pollution under control certificate, if passed.

The entire process will be automatic and hence will leave no scope for obtaining the certificate through back door means.

The testing station has been authorised by the state transport department.

The station’s managing director, Mantu Duwarah, claimed that it was the first of its kind not only in the city but also in the entire Northeast.

At present, the city has around 10 non-computerised auto emission testing stations that test only carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon levels. “We have installed a modern analyser that will also test levels of oxygen, nitrogen oxide and Lambda Vector,” Duwarah said. Lambda Vector is a measurement of air-fuel ratio during combustion.

A transport department official said the setting up of the station would ensure better monitoring of vehicular emissions in the city. Last month, the transport department had issued an order to upgrade the auto emission stations to computerised systems, he said.

The chairman of the Pollution Control Board, Assam, J.L. Dutta, had written to chief secretary P.C. Sharma stating that the existing system of issuance of certificates should be replaced by an upgraded and more reliable computerised system, to ensure better compliance.

It would also help identify polluting vehicles and transfer data to a centralised location for further analysis and interpretation, the letter said.

The fully computerised testing equipment also helps store data to analyse the level of pollution.

According to Dutta, Dispur should take immediate steps to reduce vehicular emission that has become one of the major sources of air pollution in the city.