PPCB imposes ban on registration of petrol/diesel autos from Feb 1

LUDHIANA: Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has imposed a ban on registration of new petrol and diesel auto-rickshaws in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali, Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib from February 1, 2019.

No new auto-rickshaws will be issued registration certificate by the transport authority from February 1, 2019. The step is taken considering the rising pollution levels in these cities.

The transport authorities claimed that they have received directions to stop registration of new auto-rickshaws from February, 2019. The ban was earlier imposed on the registration of petrol/ diesel auto-rickshaws within the limits of municipal corporation, but the ban is now imposed at the district level.

Out of 21,000 registered auto-rickshaws, 3000 are LPG-based and rest are petrol/diesel variants, as per the transport department. The officials are clueless about the exact number of illegal auto-rickshaws running in city without permit to drive in the MC limits. The number of illegal auto-rickshaws are estimated to be around 50,000.

Gurdev Singh, ACP (traffic), “We are taking action against illegal auto-rickshaws. In these coming days, the traffic department is going to allot unique ID numbers to auto-rickshaws in the city and this number will be issued only to those which will fulfill all conditions.”

He said that their software is almost ready and they will soon start issuing the unique ID numbers. The illegal auto-rickshaws will be impounded, he added.