Govt sends PUC drive up in smoke

Transport Commissioner V M Lal admitted that the anti-pollution drive had suffered a setback following this compromise: “This has happened only because transporters are more organised than private cars owners.” Transport officials say the state government’s capitulation amounts to a rollback of the 15-month anti-pollution drive. “The government was asked to bend by the unions, it ended up crawling,” he said.

On December 15, the Bombay High Court had directed the Motor Vehicles Department to collect spot fines of Rs 1,000 from polluting vehicles. Enforcing this decision, the MVD netted over Rs 1.6 crore from nearly 18,000 vehicles. The money will henceforth be collected only from private motorists as truck drivers whizz by, with only a promise to rectify their defect.

“We are a soft target for fines and taxes since we can’t armtwist the government and we don’t have a union,” remarks P P Asher, who was recently fined Rs 1,000 by the Transport Department.

Environmentalists have threatened to haul the government over coals in the high court. “It is a contempt of the court order,” says Zinnia Khajotia of Clean Air, one of the NGOs in the anti-pollution drive.

The government has, however, defended its decision. “We had to think about the larger interests of people as transporters had threatened an indefinite strike,” says Transport Secretary Suresh Joshi. The Motor Vehicles Department will continue to cancel registrations of polluting vehicles instead of levying spot fines. Registrations will be restored only after the defects are rectified, he says.

The state government has decided to appeal before the high court to ratify this change, something the powerful transport unions have been demanding for over six months. However, the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), which has over 50,000 private car owners as members, has decided to challenge it.

WIAA President Vimal Shah, says the state government’s latest move smacks of appeasement of the commercial vehicle lobby. “Polluting commercial vehicles get a seven-day period to rectify their defect while private cars have first offences endorsed on their registration book and licences.” “The government only understands the language of strikes and morchas,” addd Nitin Dossa of the WIAA.