The Hindu : Emission test: Transport Dept. directive to petrol stations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 07, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Emission test: Transport Dept. directive to petrol stations

By Anil Sastry

BANGALORE SEPT. 6. The Transport Department has asked all petrol stations in Bangalore City to set up computerised emission testing centres on their premises to enable motorists to get their vehicles certified easily.

The move comes close on the heels of an earlier direction by the department to petrol stations to dispense fuel only to those vehicles that had a valid Pollution under Control (PuC) certificate.

In his letter of July 26, 2002, which asked petrol stations to insist on a PuC certificate, the Transport Commissioner, T. Thimme Gowda, told the petrol station operators that refusal to dispense fuel to vehicles not possessing PuC certificate would help in preserving the environment.

He pointed out that though Bangalore was known as a "Garden City," there were hardly 25 lakh trees. Assuming that one tree absorbed 14 gm. of carbon dioxide in a day, the City required at least 50 lakh trees to absorb eight to 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted by more than 18 lakh vehicles in the City. Failure to keep emission level under control was one of the reasons for the high level of air pollution, he said.

In his August 1 letter to petrol station operators, Mr. Gowda said that setting up emission testing centres on their premises would help motorists to get their vehicles tested on the spot, if they did not have a certificate. Further, a petrol station with a testing centre would be a full-fledged vehicle care centre providing air, fuel, and emission testing facilities.

There are 193 petrol stations in the City. Of them, 17 belong to the Indo-Burma Petroleum Company, 44 to Bharat Petroleum Corporation, 79 to Indian Oil Corporation, and 53 to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

According to the Joint Transport Commissioner (Enforcement-South), C.R. Mohammed Suleman, petrol station operators are likely to agree to the department's proposal, and a meeting of operators will be held shortly.

Mr. Gowda told The Hindu that setting up computerised testing centres would do away with the issue of PuC certificates without examining the level of emission of the vehicle, as a PuC certificate could be issued only on production of the vehicle. He noted that of the 158 emission testing centres in the City, 40 have been upgraded to computerised testing centres.

Directions had been issued to the other centres to upgrade themselves to computerised testing centres gradually, Mr. Gowda said. The department had suspended licenses of many testing centres, which found to have been issuing PuC certificates without checking the vehicles.

It is made mandatory under Rule 115 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules for every vehicle to be certified as Pollution under Control vehicle. While brand new vehicles have exemption up to one year from the date of purchase, owners or operators need to get the certificate once in six months subsequently.

sIf vehicular emission is found to be beyond the prescribed levels during inspection, an opportunity will given to the owner or operator to get it rectified. If he fails to do so, he will be made to pay a penalty.

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