Around 600 Pollution Under Control Centres (PUCC) across 400 petrol pumps in the national Capital will remain closed starting Monday in response to a protest call by petrol dealers and pump owners following the Delhi Government's proposed hike in pollution certificate charges.
The closure call of PUCC by the Delhi Petrol Dealers' Association (DPDA) comes amid tussle with the Government for not revising the PUC checking rates according to the demand of the association.
The association of petrol dealers claimed that while the rates for PUC certificates were not increased from the last 13 years, last week, there was a very nominal increase in the rates by the Delhi Transport Department.
While announcing the decision on Thursday, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, "In response to the long-pending demands of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association and to keep up with the rising costs of pollution checking services, we have decided to revise the rates.
This revision is necessary to ensure that pollution checking stations can continue to operate efficiently and provide quality services to the public. We remain committed to maintaining Delhi’s air quality and ensuring that all vehicles meet the required pollution standards
Stating that the association has decided to go ahead with the strike as the running of PUC centres have become unviable, DPDA president Nischal Singhania said, "There are 400 petrol pumps in Delhi and all of them have petrol PUCC centres. Some of them also have diesel PUCC centres, which takes the count to around 600 PUC centres," he added.
President of All India Petroleum Dealers Association Ajay Bansal claimed that the nominal increase in the rates are
not justified by the Government.
“Our demand was to consider the wages hike, take into account the inflation index for other operational costs and increase the charges to Rs. 150 for 2W, Rs. 200 for 4W and Rs. 300 for Diesel Vehicles. An increase of Rs. 20,30 & 40 is not justified at all. What calculations have been considered to come to these figures. DPDA reject the proposed hike and would close the PUC operations from 15th July 2024,” he said.
“The reason for increase is that salaries have increased 300 per cent in the last 13 years. The other operational costs have also increased. Maintenance and spares of the PUC checking have increased tremendously. Earlier, customers were supposed to get PUC checked every 3 months, now government has made it once a year, thus reducing the revenue to one fourth,” Bansal stated.
The AAP led Delhi government increased the PUC certificate charges for petrol, CNG and diesel vehicles after a gap of about 13 years. The new pollution checking rates for vehicles are, Rs. 80 for petrol, CNG, or LPG (including bio-fuel) two and three wheelers, Rs 110 for petrol, CNG, or LPG (including bio-fuel) four wheelers and above categories and Rs. 140 for diesel-propelled vehicles.
Earlier, the rates were Rs. 60 for two-wheelers, Rs. 80 for four wheelers, and Rs. 100 for Diesel vehicles, respectively.
The Delhi Petrol Dealers Association had been advocating for an increase in pollution checking fees, as they had not been revised since 2011. Delhi’s Transport Minister, Kailash Gehlot, also held a meeting with representatives of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association on June 20, 2024 and later revised the rates.
But the DPDA has rejected the proposed hikes and stated that the revision by the department is not according to the inflation adjustment and the rising expenses of the operators.
