Maharashtra may deny fuel to unfit vehicles to curb air pollution: Minister

The Maharashtra government is considering a policy to deny fuel at petrol pumps to unfit vehicles that contribute to air pollution, state Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said on Tuesday.

During a review meeting with senior officials of the Motor Vehicles Department at Mantralaya, Sarnaik said a stringent policy in this regard will be in place soon.

With the increase in the number of vehicles on roads, especially those running on conventional fuel, air pollution has risen at an alarming rate, he said in a release.

Though every vehicle is required to possess a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate, there are reports of fake or improperly obtained certificates, the minister said. "Only vehicles with valid certificates will be allowed to refuel. 'No PUC, no fuel' will be the guiding principle of the new policy," he said.

Sarnaik also pointed out that technically unfit vehicles were responsible for the deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) in urban areas, and to address this, the government plans to implement QR code-based PUC certificates and install systems at fuel stations to verify vehicle emission compliance in real-time.