Bengal to link up pollution test centres

The West Bengal state government will connect all vehicle pollution checking centres to a central server at regional transport offices where registration numbers of all vehicle plying in the state will be recorded.

"This will allow us to keep a tab on the regularity of vehicles that check pollution levels. This data that will be fed to the local PUC centres will be uploaded to the central server at the RTC on a regular basis," explained H Mohan, director public vehicles department and joint secretary, department of transport, government of West Bengal.

"The PUC centres will however have to upgrade their equipment with ones that are capable of checking tail pipe emissions and other emissions along with particulate matters that will conform to Bharat Stage II standards," he added.

This will require vehicle owners to pay larger amounts for procuring the PUC certificate. Mohan said the cost of installation of these equipment, a prototype of which was developed by SIAM, would be around Rs 5 lakh.

This will require vehicle owners to pay at least Rs 30. He however said the final pricing and the total cost of installations were to be worked out.

Mohan said the system and the networking would be in place within the next six months. He E H Hewas speaking to journalists at the sideline of a workshop on 'Bharat II: Reality & Illusions' organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata yesterday.

Other speakers present at the workshop said that the vehicle manufacturers would also have to take the burden in terms of providing a certificate that the vehicle they sell would conform to the specifications through the whole of the warranty period of the vehicle.

State transport minister, Subhas Chakrabarti, said at the meeting the state government was weighing all possibilities that would amicably solve the problem of old vehicles and compliance with pollution norms.