New Delhi, 26 September (H.S.): Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday inaugurated an Automated Testing Station (ATS) in Burari under the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’. The ATS has an annual capacity to conduct fitness tests for 90,000 vehicles. She said the system of Pollution Under Control (PUC) centres issuing pollution control certificates in Delhi would also be made more effective and reliable. An enforcement regime concerning valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates will come into effect in Delhi from October 1. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Manoj Tiwari and Delhi Transport Minister Dr Pankaj Kumar Singh were present on the occasion.

The Chief Minister said the Burari ATS would be capable of testing 40,000 heavy motor vehicles and 60,000 light motor vehicles annually. The five-lane modern ATS is a significant step towards making vehicle fitness testing scientific, transparent and technology-driven. Vehicle fitness tests at the facility will be conducted through a fully automated process. Various parameters, including braking efficiency, suspension performance, headlight condition, side-slip, emission levels and inspection of the underbody of vehicles, will be assessed. Earlier, on September 3, an Automated Testing Station with an annual capacity to test approximately 72,000 vehicles was inaugurated at Tehkhand.

She said temporary measures undertaken only during the winter months would not be sufficient to address Delhi’s pollution problem. The government has adopted an approach of treating pollution control as a continuous, year-round process and is working simultaneously across various areas, including transport, expansion of green cover, electric mobility, waste management and technology-based monitoring. Pollution does not remain confined to any single boundary, and the air quality of Delhi-NCR is influenced by several surrounding areas. However, she said, it is the government’s responsibility to take concrete measures necessary to reduce pollution in Delhi. It is with this approach that the vehicle fitness testing system is being modernised.

The Chief Minister said the system of Pollution Under Control (PUC) centres issuing pollution control certificates in Delhi would also be made more effective and reliable. An enforcement regime concerning valid Pollution Under Control certificates will be implemented in Delhi from October 1. Alongside this, efforts are also underway to strengthen the monitoring and functioning of PUC centres through technology. The government’s objective is not merely to discuss the problem of pollution, but to undertake concrete, long-term and effective measures to control it. The government is working towards ensuring that the transport system is clean, safe and technologically enabled. Strengthening vehicle fitness testing is an important initiative in this direction, as ensuring compliance with prescribed fitness and emission standards for vehicles operating on roads is essential for cleaner air and a safer transport system.

Transport Minister Singh said the launch of the ATS was an important step towards modernising and making Delhi’s vehicle fitness testing system more transparent. With the commencement of ATS facilities in Nand Nagri, Tehkhand and Burari, Delhi’s total capacity for automated vehicle testing has now exceeded 2.5 lakh vehicles annually. This will provide commercial vehicle owners with access to modern fitness testing facilities closer to their homes. The Burari ATS was completed in a record period of one year and, with an annual capacity of approximately 1,00,000 vehicles, is among the higher-capacity automated testing centres in the country. Under the guidance of Chief Minister Gupta, the Delhi government is continuously working towards building a safe, transparent and technology-driven transport system.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar