PUC centres capitalize on fear among commuters

Surat: The fear of hefty fines under the amended Motor Vehicles Act has made people queue up at the authorized centres to get pollution under control (PUC) certificates for their vehicles in the Diamond City on Monday.
Serpentine queues that were being witnessed outside the PUC centres across the city for the past couple of days grew longer today. Paresh Pradhan, owner of PUC centre, told TOI, “Earlier, owners of three vehicles used to come to our centre for PUC. Now, we are issuing more than 200 PUCs in a day.” This undeniably has given an opportunity to the centre owners to rake in the moolah. Many PUC centre owners are charging Rs100 to Rs500 for issuing PUC certificate.
Official sources said the rates fixed by transport department for PUC certificates for two-wheelers and four-wheelers were Rs20 and Rs50, respectively. “We have received complaints about some PUC centres charging huge money for the certificate. The department will be initiating action against such PUC centres.”
Yogesh Patil, a resident of Althan, said, “I was not aware of the official rates for the PUC certificate. I was charged Rs100 for PUC certificate for my two-wheeler.”
In many city areas, two-wheeler riders wearing helmets were not stopped but those without asked to furnish all the documents, including PUC when the state government had extended the deadline by another 15 days.
Many people had to spend over three hours in the queue to get PUC certificate for their vehicles.
“I stood in the queue for three hours to get PUC certificate for my two-wheeler. I had taken half day leave from my office to get the work done today,” said Manish Chevli, a private banker.
People use lanes to avoid penalties
Melvyn.ReggieThomas
Surat: Many commuters avoided driving their vehicles on main roads of the city as they didn’t want to be levied heavy fines under the amended Motor Vehicles Act on Monday.
Lanes in majority of the areas, especially those of the walled city, witnessed heavy traffic jam throughout the day. Lanes of Nanavat, Shahpore, Lal Darwaja, Wadi Falia, Bhagal, Gopipura Bamba Khana, Rughnathpura, Rustompura and Variavi Bhaghal remained jam-packed. Majority of two-wheeler commuters travelling between railway station and Chowk Bazaar avoided using Rajmarg fearing presence of traffic cops at the junctions.
There are at least five exit routes between railway station to Chowk Bazaar. A person wanting to travel to Chowk Bazaar from railway station can take the exit from Lal Darwaja and travel through small lanes that connect Mahidhapura, Shahpore, Mughalsarai and reach Chowk Bazaar.
A farsan shop owner of Mahidharpura on the condition of anonymity said, “I have never seen traffic jam in our lane for the past so many years. But today there was huge traffic jam in our lane and most of the commuters were without helmets. Traffic cops must stand guard in lanes too.”
DK Chavda, regional transport officer, told TOI, “People are serious on keeping their documents intact as there is the fear of hefty fines under the amended MV Act. Earlier, we were getting 150 people for driving licences, but now the number has gone up to 800 per day.”