After imposition of the Motor Vehicle Act (Amended) 2019 from September 1, citizens of Dehradun have been queuing up to get Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate for their vehicles. With limited number of PUC centres in the region long queues of the vehicle owners can be seen, which also resulted in traffic congestion situations at several junctions on Friday. However, the sudden implementation of hefty penalties for traffic offences has also given an opportunity to few people for taking advantage of the situation. Dehradun Regional Transport Office (RTO) has also been getting complaints about few PUC centres charging more than the fixed charge for issuing certificate.
Dehradun Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Dinesh Pathoi said, “After the amendment that was implemented by the central government from September 1, two types of effects have been noted. First, in order to complete their documents, citizens in large numbers can be seen at PUC centres.
Second effect is that we also have received few complaints about over charging. We want to clarify that as per the amendment of MV Act for the issuing of PUC certificate for all vehicles, PUC centres can charge Rs 100 per vehicle. In case someone is over charging we will take actions against them to the extent of cancelling their licence.”
He further stated, “Earlier petrol stations and garage owners were the only one who can start a PUC centre. Now, with the amendment in MV Act any citizen as an individual also can start a PUC centre after the required paper work. We are already getting applications of people wanting to start mobile PUC centres. One such application is under process.”
It is pertinent to mention here that according to the website of Uttarakhand transport department, total of 25 PUC centres are operating in Dehradun presently. One of the PUC centres at Mokhampur is charging Rs 100 per two-wheeler and Rs 150 per four-wheeler. One of the citizens in queue said, “They register names from 6AM to 8AM. Then they start the actual procedure from 9:30AM to 10AM. I have been waiting here since 5AM, but they first concluded people from Thursday’s list. As of now we are more concerned about the certificate, so even if they are charging Rs 50 extra it is not a problem.”
A citizen who had come from Raipur area to the Mokhampur PUC centre stated “The crowd at the PUC centre near my house is larger than the crowd here.”
According to sources, Superintendent of Police (traffic) Prakash Chandra Arya also communicated with RTO Pathoi that they should open more PUC centres, at least on temporary basis as the large number of people at these centres are creating traffic related problems.
Sources also stated that mobile phones of transport officers are continuously ringing since the amended Act has been imposed.
