Hyderabad: One of the most distinctive sights on the roads is of RTC buses emitting thick black exhaust. The traffic police does not have the equipment to check vehicular pollution, its personnel only check for ‘pollution under control’ certificates.
It does not do even that much for RTC buses. In the last two years, the traffic cops have booked only five cases of pollution or not carrying PUC against RTC bus drivers.
Road Transport Authority officials said that every RTC bus comes for fitness certificate once a year; overall fitness verification of the vehicle includes pollution check. However, this PUC is valid for only six months.
TSRTC officials claimed that pollution check was conducted twice a year including once during overall vehicle fitness verification, and the second time after six months from the date of RTA giving fitness certificate.
“The RTC buses undergo a pollution check at their depots. The pollution check is done by authorised private pollution checking centre authorities. All the buses adhere to pollution norms i.e., Bharat Stage-II and Stage-III as per their year of manufacture,” said Musheerabad RTC depot manager Venkat Reddy.
A traffic police official said they would be given equipment to check pollution levels of vehicles as the government has in principle given approval for such a project.
