By Sanyukta Iyer
After napping over the entire issue dealing with the PUC certificate for more than 10 years, the Union ministry of road transport and highways wakes up to revise the pollution under control (PUC) norms, but shies away from touching diesel vehicles – the dirtiest on the road. But people still seem to be unaware of the changes in policies and damage caused to our environment.
But there is hope. The decision to allow the state governments to set more rigid standards than what the Union ministry itself is prepared to set, is probably the only way out for critically polluted cities like Pune.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is shocked that the first ever revision since the beginning of the program in 1992 has not even addressed on-road vehicular emissions; source of the deadliest particles in our air. Neither have the announcement laid out test procedures for all types of vehicles adequately to correct the loopholes for manipulation and to authenticate the accuracy of the emissions tests.
The new regulations that are constantly being made are weak and the draft notifications do not modify the standards of the current test procedures. The government has been well aware of the shortcomings of the free acceleration smoke tests for vehicles, but has chosen not to act on this knowledge.

For an accurate test, smoke density reading should be taken after rapid acceleration to full throttle. It is very easy to dodge this test by not pressing the accelerator rapidly and fully. Ways to prevent this and to validate the test is to authorize additional measurements of speed of the engine and temperature of the engine oil at the time of testing. While engine speed can indicate consistency of tests, the oil temperature can say how well the engine has been warmed up to get the correct reading. The ignorant Hawaldars, however, willfully ignores these requirements and fails to explain why the current smoke limit must not change for new vehicles on road.

Petrol norms: Will they make any difference?
While heavy vehicles have been let off, hesitant steps have been taken to improve petrol/CNG norms. Currently carbon monoxide (CO) norms have become tighter and hydrocarbon (HC) norms have been initiated for the first time for new cars and two/three-wheelers in the city. Separate norms have been introduced for new two wheelers in Pune and have started being enforced making drivers more vigilant.

Are these adequate? Normally, in any typical vehicle inspection program the norms are set to target the worst polluters — around 20 per cent of the population — at a time. But in India, the government does not release data on average emissions levels of the old and new fleets on road, to indicate the size fraction of vehicles that the new norms are targeting to reject. The proposed norms could be targeting much less than 20 per cent without any significant impact on overall emissions in most cities.

The PUC Charade
Vehicular pollution is considered to be a major source of air pollution in Pune City. As per Central Pollution Control Board, the vehicular pollution load in Pune has increased by nearly 50%.
It is mandatory for every vehicle owner to carry a valid Pollution under Control (PUC) Certificate and maintain the vehicle with in prescribed emission norms. Following are a few measures that city dwellers can take up to help maintain air pollution by keeping check of their individual vehicles.

Pollution Checking by Transport Department: Vehicles should be deployed on regular basis at road locations for prosecution of polluting and vehicles not having PUC Certificates.

Public Awareness: Public awareness campaigns should be conducted to raise social consciousness on the issue and educate motorists about the health hazards, statutory provisions and control measures viz. engine tuning and maintenance.
Catalytic Converters: Only those 4-wheeled petrol driven vehicles should be registered on first sale in Pune, which are fitted with Catalytic Converters.

Other steps must include the phasing out of old commercial vehicles, tightening of mass emission standards for new vehicles and the Improvement in Fuel Quality.