Plan to rein in errant emission test centres; Teams to scan pollution check process
Telegraph | 14 March 2025
The state government has decided that officers will visit auto emission testing centres, observe vehicles undergoing pollution tests, and submit reports that include the centre’s latitude and longitude on a mobile application specifically designed for this purpose.
The decision to physically turn up and check how the testing centres function comes amidst allegations that some vehicle owners were not visiting the testing centres and getting the pollution certificates illegally.
The transport department has also instructed its senior officers to visit bus depots, checkposts, terminuses, emission testing centres and jetties to assess the infrastructure and services offered.
Sources in the transport department said the regional transport officers and the additional regional transport officers have been instructed to visit the testing centres in Calcutta and its adjoining areas and examine the type of services offered.
“The officers will have to upload the latitude and longitude of the facility they are visiting, including the auto emission testing centres, on a mobile application developed by the state’s finance department and submit their observations,” a senior officer of the transport department said.
“The report of an officer visiting a particular facility will be visible to senior officers of all departments, and if they have any queries, they can raise it on the app,” the officer said.
The idea to make officers accountable comes in the wake of reports reaching the state government that in some areas, the operators of a few testing centres were furnishing fabricated reports of pollution tests without actually examining vehicles.
Two years back, the state government issued a notification which made it mandatory for all vehicles to physically turn up and take the tests to get a pollution under control certificate (PUCC).
The document certifies that the emissions of a particular vehicle, undergoing the mandatory test, were within the legal limits set by the government. To ensure vehicles turned up for the tests, the state government had geo-fenced the testing centres, whereby transport department officials could track vehicles entering and exiting the centres.
A section of senior officials admitted that even after this move, there were allegations from some centres that a section of commercial vehicle owners were collecting PUCCs without showing up with the vehicle at the centres.
“Auto emission contributes significantly to the city’s air pollution levels. We want to stop any malpractice whereby polluting vehicles continue to be in circulation, flouting the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989,” the officer said. “Under this new system, even officers visiting the testing centres will remain accountable.”
Metro reported earlier how the city did not have a single day in January when the air quality was “good” or “satisfactory”, according to an air quality report of Calcutta from the website of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board.
The report for the city — an average of the readings in all six stations within Calcutta municipal area — showed that out of 31 days in January, there were six days when the air quality was “poor”. It was “moderate” for 25 days.