Hyderabad: Illegal pollution testing centres in city thrive under RTA’s nose

♦ As per authorities, there are around 270 approved mobile pollution testing centres in the Greater Hyderabad limits

♦ The charges for issuing Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates were increased from June 14, 2023 but they are charging exorbitant fees for pollution check

♦ The fare also varies from one mobile emission testing centre to another

Hyderabad: Following the increase in fares for testing and issuing Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates for vehicles by the State government, RTA activists alleged the irregularities in pollution testing centres and said that with the rising number of vehicles in the city, there is also a rise in the number of mobile pollution testing centres.

In Hyderabad, there are more than 77 lakh vehicles out of which, over 57 lakh are two-wheelers and 13 lakh are cars, with 1,200 being added every month. However, the number of pollution testing centres operating without licenses have almost tripled, right under the nose of the State Road Transport Authority.

As per authorities, there are around 270 approved mobile pollution testing centres in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

Owners have to get their vehicles tested for emissions every six months. However, the charges for issuing Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates were increased from June 14, 2023 but they are charging exorbitant fees for pollution check and the fare is also varying from one mobile emission testing centre to another.

The new rates for vehicular pollution testing and issuance of pollution under control certificate are petrol two-wheeler (Rs 50), petrol three-wheeler (Rs 60), petrol four-wheeler (Rs 75), diesel four-wheeler (Rs 100), diesel other vehicles (Rs 100). The previous rates were-petrol two-wheeler Rs 30, petrol three-wheeler Rs 50, diesel four-wheeler Rs 60.

Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union, General secretary M Dayanand said that the dealers proposed for the increased fares in view of increased cost of investment, salaries and maintenance costs, but these dealers did not pay back to the government and were also running illegal testing centres.

“These dealers do not have any record of the certificates issued to the vehicles and many of them have not opted for online yet,” said Dayanand.

He said that several dealers running the pollution testing unit are testing bogus to the vehicles. “Reading the pollution unit by most of the testing centres in the city are unreliable. They are operating the PUC testing and manipulating the numbers as per requirements of the vehicle owner,” he added.

These centres should be renewed every three years as per transport department, but the licence holders are not even renewing their licences. In a recent check the devices installed inside mobile testing units revealed that some were not even working properly, and operators were hesitant to show their licences.

Dayanand pointed out that “RTA gives licence for one testing unit at a particular location.The licence holder is setting up 5 to 10 vehicles illegally at different locations across the city. The RTA needs to have a software that links every single mobile testing unit to curb irregularities.”

Moreover, the fitness, renewals, transfers of the vehicles were also conducted with fake certification including the private buses, school buses.