Mumbai PUC centres to be audited by Maha transport dept, CSE

The Maharashtra transport department and Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment have begun auditing 'pollution under control' (PUC) centres in Mumbai, state additional transport commissioner Satish Sahasrabudhe said on Monday. Speaking at a workshop on 'Advance on-road emission management for being BS-VI ready', he said the audits were being done in an "inconspicuous manner" and the results would be known soon.

As per the state government's 'e-PUC' mechanism in place since September last year, it is mandatory for centres to upload PUC results on the VAHAN online database along with vehicle photograph and details. A senior transport department official said the audit would check if all rules laid down for PUC centres were being followed.

The PUC certificate for a new vehicle is valid for one year, after which it has to be obtained every six months. Mumbai has over 37 lakh vehicles with another 2.5 lakh getting registered annually. CSE (Research and Advocacy) executive director Anumita Roychowdhury expressed concern at the rise in number of vehicles in the Mumbai metropolitan region, adding that this number had doubled in one decade in the metropolis.

"Vehicles are the second largest contributor to air pollution in the city. Only vehicles with Bharat Stage BS-VI emission standards can be registered from April 2020, as per a Supreme Court directive," Roy Chowdhury said.

"India is the only country in the world that has leaped from BS-IV to BS-VI, skipping BS-V. This is a very good decision," she said.