Tribune India: Jalandhar: Monday, July 10, 2017.
Over 200
vehicles of the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Jalandhar are being plied in the
city without any annual fitness certification for the past many years.
These also
include tractors and trailers which have even been banned by the Punjab and
Haryana High Court.
The fact was
revealed after RTI activist Ravinder Pal Singh Chadda sought information about
the vehicles through the RTI Act. The MC, in reply to his query, said none of
the vehicles was given any exemption from the annual fitness test under Punjab
Motor Vehicle Rules (PMVR). Also, it said that no notification was issued by
the state government which exempted such vehicles from undergoing any fitness test.
The RTI reply also stated that the use of tractor and trailers was banned for
use under the PMVR.
Chadda said
the vehicles mostly belonged to the Municipal Health Department (numbering 89)
and were moving across the city everyday to lift garbage from one place to
another and, hence, were a major source of pollution in the city.
“While the
civic body is selling dreams to the city residents to make it a smart city, it
has completely ignored to get their vehicles checked for pollution,” said
Chadda.
Accepting the
fact, Assistant health officer Dr Srikrishan said the process to get the
fitness certification of all vehicles had begun recently and soon all vehicles
would be checked for pollution as well.