The Motor Vehicles Department in Ernakulam has started integrating automobile pollution testing centres into its digital database Parivahan, bringing much-needed transparency and uniformity in the issue of Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC).
The first such digitally issued PUCC was uploaded into the portal by the Ernakulam Regional Transport Office on Tuesday. PUCC is the latest in a bunch of vehicle-related documents to be added to the portal with registration, licence, and insurance documents already available on the digital platform, facilitating more effective and even remote enforcement. The integration of pollution testing centres is under way and is likely to be completed in the district by the end of the month. The centres are integrated with Parivahan portal through a software interface application and operators are issued id and password for logins using which alone they are now authorised to issue PUCC. There are over 100 such centres in the district.
“This will enable even remote electronic monitoring of the operation of these centres. The MVD authorities will be able to verify digitally whether the centres are licensed ones, the certificates are issued in compliance with norms, and even whether the equipment they use have their calibration in order and approval by Automotive Research Association of India failing which the centres could be automatically blocked from operating, ruling out the need for physical verification to detect and penalise discrepancies,” said C.D. Arun, Motor Vehicle Inspector with Ernakulam RTO who keeps track of the ongoing integration.
Uniformity in fee
The digital system will also bring about much-needed uniformity in fee for PUCC stopping operators from charging arbitrarily. The transport department has fixed ₹80 for pollution testing of two-wheelers, ₹90 and ₹100 for three-wheelers on petrol and diesel, ₹100 and ₹110 for light motor vehicles, and ₹150 for heavy vehicles. Also, the technician employed by centres should have a minimum qualification of SSLC or its equivalent and a two-week training course certificate from the Institution of Driving Training and Research at Edappal. Violation of any of these conditions will lead to automatic suspension of services.
“With the addition of more documents on the Parivahan portal, it will also spare motorists the inconvenience of carrying hard copies of original documents. They can download them from the portal and save it on the mobile application Mparivahan or DigiLocker. Such digital documents will suffice during vehicle checks,” said Mr. Arun.
