Mumbai: Only 14 percent vehicles emitting pollution, citizens criticise RTO's lackadaisical inspection

Vehicles are causing a lot of pollution in Mumbai and the RTO has started taking action against such vehicles. This action was intensified from November 2023. But it has been observed that this action has cooled down since March. It has been revealed that vehicle inspection by RTO has decreased by an average of 4 thousand per month. Also, in the inspection conducted by the RTO, only 14 percent of the vehicles were found to be polluting and the efficiency of the RTO is being questioned by the citizens.

Due to the increasing pollution in Mumbai, the health of citizens is in danger. To curb the increasing air pollution in Mumbai, the RTO has started cracking down on smog-emitting vehicles. The pollution control teams of nine RTOs namely Borivali, Mumbai Central, Mumbai West, Mumbai East, Thane, Kalyan, Pen, Panvel, Vasai have conducted PUC inspection of vehicles through the Air Velocity Team from November 8 at the Border CheckPoint, and action against vehicles violating the rules and transporting construction materials have started.

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Nine divisions of RTO inspected 30,781 vehicles between November 8 and March 31 under this campaign. Out of this only 4,358 vehicles were found emitting pollution. Thousands of vehicles spewing black smoke into the air are seen every day in Mumbai. But the citizens have expressed anguish that the RTO found only 14 percent of the vehicles emitting pollution in five months.

After the special inspection drive started on November 8, around 8,000 vehicles were inspected within 15 days. Action was taken against more than 1200 vehicles. A total of 10,099 vehicles were inspected during the period from November 8 to December 3, out of which 1,679 vehicles were found guilty. A total of 19,287 vehicles have been inspected till January 14, out of which 3,018 vehicles have been found guilty. About 30,781 vehicles were inspected in the five months of November and March and action was taken against 4,358 vehicles. Therefore, it is seen that there is an average decrease of 4000 per month in vehicle inspection.

Vehicles transporting sand, cement, gravel, sand are not covered with tarpaulin. Action was taken against 700 vehicles within 15 days of RTO's campaign. However, action has been taken against only 963 vehicles in the last five months. This has led to criticism that this action has slowed down.