Go Green denotes ‘save environment and check pollution,’ but it also connotes currency notes! No wonder Go Green is literally giving a lot of ‘greenery’ to unscrupulous employees of Transport Department, the Traffic Police and owners of the pollution checking centres in Ranchi.
A big racket is flourishing in the state in the name of Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate for vehicles. Even new vehicles, non polluting ones, require a PUC just after six months of rolling down the showrooms! Many owners are unaware and that is how they get caught on the wrong foot, leaving ample scope for the police to slap heavy fines or to extract the ‘greenery’ to turn a blind eye to the violation!
What do you usually carry in your vehicleIJ Your Dl, Registration papers and insurance! When the Police check your documents and demand a pollution control certificate, you realise, oh! You do not have the pollution control certificate. Don’t worry! It’s available for just Rs50 to Rs100 and you need not even send your vehicle for the physical verification!
The PUC certificate, which is valid for six months, is officially issued for just Rs40 to Rs80, but its absence attracts a fine of Rs1,000 for the first offence. The fine goes up further to Rs2,000 for every subsequent offence, according to Jharkhand Government’s transport department website — http://jhtransport.gov.in/pollution-control.html.
The website of Jharkhand Transport department is exhaustive on the ill effects of pollution on human health and ecology. Interestingly, it says a new vehicle needs a PUC after one year, but the traffic police demand it after six months only!
But, the harsh reality of the entire exercise to Go Green is a big farce at least in Jharkhand. An example is The Pioneer managed the PUC of a bus of Bihar showing it as a Hero Honda motorcycle!
The Pioneer gave the registration number of a luxury bus of Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation bearing registration number BR-01PE-2158 (Pic attached) to a pollution checking centre at Kutchery Road, Ranchi, showing it as a registration number of a Hero Honda motorcycle. The pollution checking centre did not even demand the Registration papers for verifying if the details are correct!