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Pollution centres on all Delhi borders soon

NEW DELHI: In what could prove to be a major factor in controlling vehicular pollution in Delhi, plans are being drawn up to have Pollution Under Control (PUC) centre at all the 19 toll gates on the borders so that vehicles coming from other States could be checked and those found polluting beyond desirable limits are turned away.

The Delhi Cabinet on Monday discussed the issue of pollution by vehicles at length and directed the Transport Department to prepare a Cabinet note on involving the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for having the pollution control centres at all the toll gates.

At the meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf expressed concern at the pollution being caused in Delhi by light commercial vehicles of other States that frequent the Capital on the National Permit.

After discussing the issue at length, the Cabinet instructed the Transport Commissioner to prepare a plan of action on controlling this menace.

The Commissioner would also look into the issue of conversion of medium commercial vehicles to the compressed natural gas (CNG) mode. On an average, there are about 10,000 such polluting diesel vehicles from other States that operate in the city. As a proactive method to curb the menace at the entry point itself, it was also decided that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi would be roped in for setting up the PUC centres at all the 19 entry points to the city where the toll is charged.

“This would enable us to prevent these polluting vehicles from entering the city and on the other hand it would also result in better maintenance and pollution control measures by these operators as they would realise that they would only be able to do business if their vehicles are fit enough to enter Delhi,” a senior official said. During the meeting the issue of expediting work on the eastern and western peripheral corridors was also undertaken.

There was consensus that the State Governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh should be approached to speed up the work as this project would not only ensure development of satellite colonies around Delhi and take some load off it, but they would also help in preventing trucks and other commercial vehicles not bound from Delhi from entering the Capital and adding to the pollution and congestion in the city.

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