Petrol : sellers’ organization highlights difficulties in prohibiting gasoline for cars without an emission inspection document
Petrol : The Delhi government’s directive prohibiting the sale of gasoline to cars without proper emission check certificates has been met with a number of obstacles, according to the petrol dealers’ association DPDA.
Beginning Thursday, the Delhi government’s strict “no PUCC, no fuel” policy and a ban on the entry of any private non-Delhi vehicles that fall below BS VI standards will prevent vehicles without a valid pollution under control certificate (PUCC) from receiving fuel at gas stations in the nation’s capital.
In an appeal to Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the Delhi Petrol Dealers’ Association (DPDA) said that it offers “whole-hearted support” to any actions taken by the Delhi government to address the extreme air pollution.
Nevertheless, it said that even while “extraordinary steps are indeed necessary,” until important issues are resolved, the directive’s successful execution would remain “an extremely difficult and arduous task.”
The association stated that “measures confined solely to the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi are unlikely to yield the desired results unless uniformly implemented across the entire National Capital Region (NCR)” and that residents of Delhi suffer more from transboundary pollution than from sources within the city limits.
It noted that Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply, Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 1998 cover any retail outlet’s refusal of an essential commodity. It further stated that “refusal of sale has to be decriminalised by the relevant authority” in order for gas stations to properly implement the directive.
The “No PUCC, No Fuel” law “must be implemented by the competent authorities vested with statutory powers,” according to the DPDA, which said that gas stations are not an enforcement agency.
Additionally, it said that gas station employees are “never looked upon by the customers as an enforcing authority” and that “law-and-order disturbances” might result from gasoline refusal.
Furthermore, the group said that “penal actions against petrol pump dealers should be avoided” since they are “assisting the government in putting the order into effect.”
The DPDA said that there is “no dashboard/live feed provided along with the ANPR cameras installed at the retail outlets” and that the emission checking system is “obsolete and needs to be upgraded” among other issues.
The last trial run had produced “a lot of junk data being transmitted into the petrol pumps leading to the failure of the drive,” and a proper trial run had “never been established,” according to the report.
For the directive to be implemented successfully, the association asked that the problems be fixed.