Odisha govt relaxes pollution under control norm for one month

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday relaxed the pollution under control (PUC) norm for the vehicles for one month.

The decision of the state government came after commuters expressed their resentment over the imposition of a hefty amount of fine for flouting traffic rules, including violation of air and noise pollution norms mentioned under the amended Motor Vehicle Act.

Transport secretary G Srinivasan informed that it will help the people to collect the PUC certificate.

As many people don’t have the ‘pollution under check’ (PUC) certificate and now they have to obtain it through online mode, it has been decided to consider even the manual PUC certificate for a month, said the Transport secretary.

He also requested the police personnel not to harass or penalize vehicle owners for this particular traffic violation.

Notably, the amended Motor Vehicles Act 2019 has the provision of Rs 10,000 fine for violation of air and noise pollution norms.