Rs 1 Crore in Fines on Day One! Delhi Police Cracks Down on Polluting Vehicles Under GRAP-III

New Delhi: The City Traffic Police imposed fines totaling over Rs 1 crore on the first day of a new ban on certain vehicles. On Friday, the police issued around 550 fines to BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) III. The ban is part of efforts to reduce air pollution in the city.In addition, 4,855 vehicles were fined a total of Rs 4.8 crore for not having a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC). The fine for not having a PUCC is Rs 10,000 per vehicle.Under the new rules, private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles are no longer allowed on Delhi’s roads, and those caught violating the ban face a fine of Rs 20,000. The ban also applies to certain inter-state buses and construction activities, with the aim of tackling severe air pollution in the capital. The police have stepped up checks, especially in border areas, to prevent banned vehicles from entering the city.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Rajiv Kumar Rawal, stated that around 3,000 vehicles were checked on Friday, with many turned away at the borders.A fine of Rs 10,000 is imposed on motorists for not having a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate. These challans get released from courts. Private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles were banned from roads with violations inviting a penalty of Rs 20,000. Diesel and petrol inter-state buses from the NCR cities to Delhi are also banned.A senior police officer said that they have issued a total of 293 challans for BS-III and BS-IV vehicles in the eastern, central and northern ranges of the city. A total of 2,404 challans have been issued for not having PUCC certificates.While the New Delhi range has issued 63 such challans, the western range issued 73 and the southern range issued 121 challans, the officials said.The New Delhi, southern, and western ranges have also issued 322, 894, and 1,235 challans respectively for not having PUCC, they said.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Rajiv Kumar Rawal said that they checked around 3,000 vehicles in the three ranges of the traffic police on Friday."We have intensified checking especially in the bordering areas and the inter-state buses are also being checked. Vehicles whose entry is prohibited are being turned back from the borders. We have returned around 300 such vehicles. We are also prosecuting the vehicles which do not have a PUCC," Rawal said.The Delhi government has banned private BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles, prohibited the entry of interstate non-electric-CNG buses, certain categories of construction activities, and staggered government office timings, as the city choked under 'severe'-category air pollution Friday morning.The restrictions were imposed under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan, or GRAP, announced by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Thursday.With PTI Inputs