Raipur: An ill-prepared system grappling with hundreds of vehicles lining up for getting Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates at largely inadequately designated centres in Raipur every day now is set to witness a far greater mess in the coming days.

As per the State Government directive, the PUC certificates of load carriers would be checked from March 25, three and four wheelers from April 1  and two wheelers from April 8 this year. Those not having certificate after the assigned dates would be fined.The Government had also asked the PUC centers to remain open on Sunday.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, a stream of vehicles mainly cars,lined up at the BTI ground where the District Administration had put up a `special camp` on Sunday to facilitate pollution checking of vehicles in the city.

A pollution checking outlet at Ring road number 1 had 400 certificates pending to be distributed on Sunday from checks held a day earlier. The outlet managers informed they had to shut the unit on Sunday to clear the previous day’s huge backlog.

The style of pollution checking drive had although not gone too well with the city’s residents- the owners of mainly two wheelers and cars on the other hand, as more than getting their vehicles checked for which nobody had any objection, they are blaming the authorities for not having high number of pollution checking outlets established before hand prior to starting the drive as on working days they were lining up at centers instead of attending to their duties.

Moreover, very few Government vehicles which could have otherwise set an example by having PUC stickers first were seen on city`s roads having one since the commencement of the drive.

The anger among general citizens is understandable as pollution checking and certificate issuance in other cities of the country had been a long and continuous process for many years with no hassles faced by citizens at all in getting their vehicles checked for pollution levels and PUC certificate issued from a large number of designated and fully functional centers.

On the other hand, in the very words of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in his meeting last year with senior officials of Chhattisgarh Environment Protection Board (CECB) at his official residence last year he had stated that the State Government would undertake stern measures to control pollution in the interest of the people of the State while mainly implying that Chhattisgarh  would ban commercial vehicles which are more than 10 to 12 years old —mainly autos, trucks and buses- the key culprits in generating pollution.

The State Government in June last year had in fact announced that Chhattisgarh is set to ban commercial vehicles which are more than 10 to 12 years old —mainly scores of diesel fuel powered autos, trucks and buses- the key culprits in spreading pollution.

By now a majority of auto rickshaws in the city could have been converted in e-Richshaws going by the Government’s directive in June last year that the auto rickshaw owners will be given one-year period to convert the autos to e-Rickshaws. After this expiry period, the owners will not be given permits, it was announced.

 Buses plying on long-distance routes which are more than 12-years-old are already denied permits. The trucks which are more than 10 years old will not be given permits to ply on the roads, officials had informed.

Interestingly ,  the State Government’s own announcement was that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has submitted a report of annual average air pollution (P.M. 10) of 46 prominent towns and cities on  February 7 on the floor of the Parliament, officials informed.

The report mentions that there had been a drastic fall in air pollution levels in Raipur city from 2014 to 2016, officials had informed.

The CPCB releases the details of air pollution at regular intervals. The report states that in 2014, the average pollution levels was 325 micrograms per cubic meters, in 2015 it was 190 micrograms per cubic meters and in 2016 it was 150 micrograms per cubic meters , officials mentioned.

It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed the concerned Department officials to monitor the air quality standard.

Going by CPCB’s data quoted by the State Government, that there had been a drastic fall in air pollution levels in Raipur city from 2014 to 2016 , there was then no need for short deadline served for owners of two wheelers , cars and new commercial vehicles to get the PUC certificates with highly inadequate number of pollution checking centers operational in the city.

Notably, on the other hand the Central Government  last year had mentioned that Chhattisgarh is among 16 other states in the country which had implemented advanced automated solutions to deal with environmental and pollution related industry applications and approvals, the Central Government had informed earlier.

These solutions provide hassle free, 24 X 7 `e-access` to businesses to apply online, track applications, file returns and statements and get online permissions under various Acts and regulations.

The states included-- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Online pollution monitoring systems have been installed in 17 types of industries totalling 45 units which are located near Raipur city in August last year.

 This was information by provided by Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) officials to Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand who chaired a meeting at the Mantralaya  for reviewing pollution control measures taken in and around Raipur city last year.

 In the meeting, the Chief Secretary had  also issued directives to begin

implementation of the government subsidy scheme for conversion of diesel auto-rickshaws into CNG operated ones also soon, so as to promote use of clean fuel.

Decision to launch a helpline number for lodging complaints regarding violation of noise/air pollution standards has also been taken, officials informed.

 The officials concerned were also directed to inspect private hospitals and take necessary action for safe disposal of bio-medical waste. 

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