Day 1 of PUC campaign 8212; no smoke, no fire

Terming the start of the drive today a success, Joint Transport Commissioner Dilip Jadhav said it was possible only due to the cooperation of petrol pump onwers. 8220;We have visited nearly 40 petrol pumps since this morning and did not see any major problems in any of them,8221; he said, adding that though all motorists were not aware of the directive, they readily agreed to undertake the PUC test when informed about it.

Attendants verified the mandatory PUCcertificates with motorists before pumping in the petrol. Motorists without the certificates were politely given the option of either undergoing a PUC check or being turned away. Most agreed, those that didn8217;t left in a huff.

Some dodged the ban. Bilquis Chinoy of the Gateway petrol pump in Colaba recalls how a scooterist without a PUC certificate and who obtained petrol on the condition that he would move up and get the test done, sped away in a cloud of grey smoke. 8220;Most of our customers today had words of appreciation for the drive, but a few angrily drove away,8221; she said.

8220;Our apprehensions have been belied. We did have some tension with people getting upset and driving away, but it was quite a productive day,8221; says Ajit Kamlani of the Dayaram Santdas petrol pump on Warden Road. He has requested motorists to prominently display thier PUC certificates on their windscreens to save time.

Motorists who wagged their fingers at petrol pump attendants and threatened to go elsewhere were told that theywould not get it anywhere else as the directives applied to all pumps in South Mumbai.

But pumps in Sion, on the edge of the island city limits, bore the real danger of motorists actually getting their fuel elsewhere in the suburbs. 8220;We stand to lose quite a few customers in the first phase,8221; says Sundeep Desai of Desai Auto Service in Sion.