CSR: Mandatory PUC certificate for Vehicle Insurance
India is facing a crisis in terms of air pollution. More than half of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India. In order to control the situation, Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate was made mandatory by the government of India under the Central Motor Vehicle Rule 1989. However, the pollution has only grown even then.
The emissions from the vehicles emit smoke which has the potential to pollute the environment if left unchecked. PUC certificate is a norm to check the vehicle emission levels to determine how safe they are and whether they contribute to air pollution. A PUC certificate is only valid for six months after which it has to be renewed in order to update it depending on the health of the vehicle then.
A survey conducted by the TOI stated that the PUC certificates are not very accurate. According to the survey, the same vehicle test twice at two different PUC centres in 40 minutes’ timeframe were having different values. These values were not even close to each other. The difference was accounted to the inaccuracy of the process, devices of measurement and increased temperature of the machine. However, more than all of that, major dishonesty is observed in these centres.
Just a few words of kindness and request is enough to convince the person working at the PUC centres to generate a certificate without getting the vehicle checked. This is why vehicles releasing poisonous black fumes in the middle of a busy road is a common site in Indian cities.
Supreme court of India has made it mandatory to link the PUC certificate with the issue of annual insurance of the vehicle. The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) said they will work with insurance bodies to ensure complete compliance of the mandate. The insurance companies have also said that they will also initiate a pilot project in Delhi region to identify the set of vehicles that do not come back for the registration of PUC. However, all the efforts would count for nothing if the procedure of measuring and issuing PUC certificate is not sophisticated.
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