Govt asks auto dealers to set up pollution testing facility

In order to ensure that a stricter check may be kept on vehicular emissions, Delhi government has directed all car and motorbike dealers in the national capital to set up pollution measuring facilities on their premises.
All automobile dealers, except those who sell battery- operated e-rickshaws, have been asked to come up with pollution checking centres at their workshops so that these may issue Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates.
Concerned by the rising air pollution levels in Delhi, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently put a ban on all petrol vehicles more than 15 years old and any diesel vehicles more than 10 years old.

"At present, Delhi does not have sufficient numbers of PUC centres. The government has issued a direction asking all the city's car and motorbike dealers to install pollution checking centres at their workshops," said a senior government official.
"The government wants to ensure that when motorists go to automobile workshops to service their vehicles, they can also get a check done there of the emission level," the official said.
Dealers of e-rickshaws are exempt from the directive as the official said that such vehicles cause almost no pollution.
"We have exempted e-rickshaw dealers from having pollution checking centres. Such vehicles cause almost no pollution," official added.

The NGT on May 1 had extended till May 18 a stay on its order banning the plying of diesel vehicles over 10 years old in Delhi-NCR, providing relief to public utility services even as it slammed the authorities for not coming out with suggestions to reduce air pollution.