Bhubaneswar, Dec. 8: The transport department's crackdown on polluting vehicles has forced residents to rush to the nearest pollution testing centres.
However, lack of adequate pollution testing centres is forcing vehicle owners to wait for hours to get the green nod.
For a vehicular population of around 10 lakh, the city has only four testing centres. Though the regional transport office (RTO) has two pollution-testing machines, they are lying unused.
One of them has been mounted on a vehicle, while the other remains at the driving test centre at Chandrasekharpur.
According to section 190 of the Motor Vehicles Act, it is mandatory to obtain pollution under control (PUC) certificate every six months. The certificate is issued to vehicles that are non-polluting.
Sources in the RTO said that while owners of most commercial vehicles running on diesel carry out the test and get fitness certificates, many petrol-run two-wheelers and car owners flout the norm.
"Following the decision of the transport authorities to conduct a drive against vehicles running without the PUC certificate, hundreds of vehicle owners are turning up at the testing centre everyday. We are conducting tests on around 300 vehicles, including two-wheelers, everyday. Sometimes, people have to wait for hours to get the test done," said Sanjay Lath, owner of a petrol pump in Unit II, where a pollution-test centre is located.
As the city prepared for winter, the transport department launched its crackdown on December 2. In winter, pollution levels, aided by emission from polluting vehicles, peak causing serious health hazards to citizens.
While the cost of carrying out a PUC test is Rs 40 and Rs 60 for two-wheelers and cars, respectively, owners have to cough up Rs 1,000 for not carrying out the test.
Experts said that the transport authorities should authorise automobile showrooms to install machines to test the pollution levels. "There are at present two dozen automobile showrooms in the city, which can conduct the PUC test during maintenance of vehicles. This would make it easier for owners to get their vehicles checked in time," said Deepak Panigrahi, an employee of an automobile company.
Environmentalists said that though vehicular pollution here is not as alarming as that in cities such as Lucknow, Raipur, Indore, Bhopal and Visakhapatnam, the authorities should take initiatives to keep the level in check.
"The huge increase in the number of vehicles in recent years has emerged as a concern for the capital city. If the growth of vehicles continue at this rate, vehicular pollution will breach the safe level in 10 years," said Bijay Mishra, an environmentalist.
Regional transport officer, Bhubaneswar II, S.K. Behera said that they were planning to authorise 10 filling stations, mostly petrol pumps, to conduct pollution tests.
"We will continue to crack down on vehicles, especially four-wheelers, plying with pollution emissions exceeding the prescribed limits," said Behera.
