Delhi Petrol Pump Owners Announce Closure of PUC Centres: Reasons Revealed

Delhi Petrol Pump Owners Announce Closure of PUC Centres

Delhi Petrol Pump Owners Announce Closure of PUC Centres: The PUC centers across Delhi will be shut down from Monday, July 15 onwards because of their discontentment with the recent hikes in the pollution certificate rates by the government.

The statement was called off by Delhi Petrol Dealers' Association (DPDA) on Sunday to keep the PUC centres at petrol pumps closed and protest for the rates hikes in population certificates.

As per the reports, there are almost more than 80 lakh registered vehicles and around 800 PUC centres across Delhi, shutdown of these Pollution Under Control centres will create huge problems and also may lead to an increase in vehicle pollution.

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The Delhi Government on Thursday raised the rates of pollution certificates for petrol, diesel, and other CNG vehicles up to Rs 40 and the proposal will come into effect as soon as the official notice is published by the Delhi government.

In a tweet shared by the Delhi Petrol Dealers' Association (DPDA) on its X account said, “NO PUC from 15th JULY 2024 PROTEST CLOSURE.”

“ALL PUC CENTRES AT PETROL PUM IN DELHI ARE BEING FORCED TO SHUT DOWN FROM 15TH JULY 2024 BECAUSE OF GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI NOT INCREASING PUC CHECKING RATES FOR THE LAST 13 YEARS. ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST.”

In a statement, Nischal Singhania, the president of DPDA said that the last influence on the pollution certificate rates was in 2011.

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Since 2011, the operations cost of PUC has gone up drastically, and also workers' salaries have been increased by $300. However, this recent development in pollution certificate rates by the government isn’t enough to keep things running.

The statement further said the Delhi government increased the rates after 13 years only by 35% but as the cost of running a PUC centre has gone up, this rise will affect the operations cost of PUC centres significantly and thus lead to the closure of the PUC centres across the national capital.

The oil companies also charge 10 to 15 percent of the revenues of the PUC centres and altogether the cost rose to 75 % of the revenue, leaving nothing.

The new rates introduced by the Delhi government have increased to Rs 80 for two and three-wheelers running on petrol, CNG, or LPG and the prices have been increased from Rs 80 to Rs 110 for four-wheelers vehicles.

Reports also stated that for vehicles running on diesel, the prices have been increased to Rs 140 from Rs 100.

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