Cameras in Delhi to detect vehicles without valid PUC: Know camera locations

In a bid to single out vehicles and owners who are in violation of the city’s pollution norms, the Delhi Transport Department has now installed special cameras at strategic points to identify cars that do not have valid pollution certificates. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered special cameras capture a vehicle’s number plate and cross-check it with its own database to determine whether the vehicle has a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate or not. If a vehicle without a valid PUC is captured by the special cameras, then the owner will be issued a notice by the Delhi Transport Department via SMS.

The pilot project has been under operation for the last two months at four strategic locations in Delhi. The special cameras have been installed at four petrol pumps in Delhi’s Model Town, Shastri Nagar, Mall Road and Shahdara. While the pilot project has been going on for a while, a senior department official told TOI, that the cameras reveal that 15-20 percent of vehicles coming into the pumps did not have a valid PUC. The TOI report further states that the department has now decided to extend that PUC tracking cameras project to 25 petrol pumps across the capital city.

Currently, the department is only able to send a notice to violators via SMS, work is underway to generate e-challans and get them sent directly to owners who don’t have valid PUC. With the onset of the dreaded smog season in Delhi, technologies like this could play an important role in keeping pollution levels under check and violations at bay.
Need to get your PUC refreshed? Here’s what to do:
If you live in Delhi and need to get the pollution under control certificate refreshed for your vehicle, then there is good news. Delhi currently has 950 fuel pumps that issue PUC certificates and the procedure is simple and takes just a few minutes. Prices for the pollution tests currently range from Rs 60 for two-wheelers to Rs 80 for petrol four-wheelers and Rs 100 for diesel four-wheelers. This does not include the 18 percent GST that is levied over and above.

In terms of validity, BS-4 and BS-6 compliant vehicles get a PUC valid for one year and vehicles that bear BS-3, 2 or 1 only get a certificate validity of three months.