Tackling air pollution: No vehicle to enter city without fitness certificate

Public, goods transport vehicles will have to obtain digital certificate from VICS before entering the city

To control the rising level of air pollution, Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Friday banned the entry of vehicles in the city that do not have a fitness certificate.

The order will be applicable to passenger and goods transport vehicles with an immediate effect. PDMA has issued a notification in this regard on the orders of Punjab Relief Commissioner Babar Hayat Tarar. According to the notification, before entering the city it will be mandatory for all the transporters to obtain a digital fitness certificate from the Vehicle Inspection Centers System (VICS) stations.

“Manual vehicle inspection shall be suspended for three months, with effect from December 23, 2021 to March 22, 2022, across Punjab. All public service vehicles shall obtain fitness certificate from the respective Vehicles Inspections and Certificate System stations,” read the notification.

It further reads that traffic police will detain or impound the documents of the public service vehicles found that are on road without valid fitness certificates and forward the same to the concerned DRTA secretary for release after verification of valid certificate.

Amid smog and rising level of air pollution in the city, scores of reports have highlighted the fact that vehicular emissions are a major cause. Quarters concerned have criticized the government for not taking measures to control vehicular emissions in Lahore and other parts of the province. Punjab Transport Department had proposed taking certain immediate measures to control vehicular emissions.

While issuing the orders, the relief commissioner said that there was evidence of persistent deterioration in the air quality index of Lahore, which has fluctuated from satisfactory to poor and is causing breath discomfort and respiratory tract diseases amongst the people of all ages.

“In my opinion there are sufficient grounds to proceed under section 4 (2) (h) of the Act as an immediate preventive and speedy remedy and the directions hereinafter appearing are necessary to ensure public safety, conserve and preempt and mitigate imminent threat of smog in the province of Punjab,” the relief commissioner said.

Samiullah Randhawa is a correspondent covering environment, climate change, food, water and ecology. He is an International Center For Journalists alumnus and a fellow at Kettering Foundation Ohio, USA. He has won two Agahi Awards for reporting on climate change and water crisis. He tweets @sami_randhawa and can be reached at [email protected].