Bhubaneswar: The state government Friday deferred by a month the implementation of Pollution Under Control (PUC) certification, under the amended Motor Vehicle (MV) Act 2019.
The decision has been taken to allow more time to people to get their vehicles checked and collect the PUC certificates thereafter, said Transport principal secretary G Srinivas and urged the police personnel not to harass or penalise vehicle owners for this violation.
The PUC certificate is mandatory under the amended MV Act, which has the provision of Rs 10,000 fine for violation of air and noise pollution norms.
Serpentine queues could be spotted at pollution checking centres in the city as vehicles in large numbers are turning up at these centres over the past couple of days.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Police has decided to arrest people involved in drunken driving in the state. The police said breath analysers would be used at 14 toll gates in the state to check drunken driving.
“If alcohol content exceeds 30 mg per 100 ml of blood or the drug consumed makes him incapable of exercising proper control over the vehicle, the person shall be arrested,” said a police order.
Within two hours of arrest, the person will undergo medical test by a registered medical practitioner for the purpose of collection of blood specimen, the order said.