Many vehicles emitting high levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide go scot-free in the city, thanks to ineffective monitoring by Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and inefficiency of the mobile pollution testing centres.
According to the RTA sources, there are 41 registered pollution testing centres in the city for checking the emission levels of the vehicles and issuing Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC).
It is mandatory for vehicle owners to obtain PUCC which have validity for three months, six months and a year.
However, the pollution testing centres are reportedly issuing PUCC even without testing vehicles. Hardly any vehicle fails the test.
The centre operators are supposed to maintain a record of the vehicles that have obtained PUCC and submit the same to the RTA every month to which the testing centres hardly comply. Meaning: many vehicles with high emission levels are plying unchecked.
The regulatory authority does not have any record as to how many vehicles appear for the emission test and about those getting failed. Quite a few unauthorised centres are also functioning without valid licence, it is learnt.
The centres have to mandatorily renew their licences in every three years.
Interestingly, the Regional Transport Authority does not have any mechanism to keep a track on the functioning of the pollution testing centres, unless a special drive is conducted to detect the irregularities.
“If licences are renewed annually, it can help in better monitoring, but rules have to be amended for this purpose,” says an RTA official.
