New Delhi: Delhi intensified its enforcement drive against vehicles without valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates Thursday, but there was no visible deployment of enforcement personnel at petrol pumps, which largely relied on CCTV surveillance, scanners and announcements to identify such vehicles.
At a PUC centre near ITO, several motorists were seen getting their certificates renewed around 7.30 pm. This system, the staff said, has been continuing since last year, although the enforcement mechanism has changed with no special deployment announced by govt this time.
Explaining how the system works, a petrol pump employee said that announcements are made through the outlet’s speaker system when its scanner flags a vehicle without a valid PUCC. We cannot take the fuel back once it has been filled,” he said. Some said their certificates were nearing expiry and they had come to get them renewed.
“Sometimes the machine takes time to scan a vehicle. By the time the announcement is made, the vehicle may already have left after tanking up. In some cases, the announcement is made while fuel is being dispensed.
Pump employees said around 10 to 15 vehicles are flagged at their respective outlets in a day on average, and owners are asked to get their certificates renewed before refuelling.
Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa earlier said that measures had been discussed at a meeting on pollution in Delhi and National Capital Region and that govt would intensify enforcement of its “No PUCC, No Fuel” policy, under which a vehicle without a valid certificate would not be allowed to buy fuel. A petrol dealer said, “Earlier, govt used to deploy marshals and personnel at pumps to check PUCC, but they are not there this time. Previously, there used to be a few instances of false or random announcements, the dealer said, adding, “The situation has improved now.
A ground check by TOI at four petrol pumps — two in Connaught Place, one at ITO and one on Tolstoy Road — found that their staff were using the existing scanning system to identify vehicles without valid PUCC. That makes it tough for the staff to check everyone, as they are primarily busy dispensing fuel.