Hyderabad: At a time when India has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, an alarming majority of vehicles in Telangana are operating without mandatory pollution compliance documents.Data accessed by TOI from the Telangana Road Transport Authority (RTA) reveal that 1.61 crore of the 1.7 crore vehicles registered in the state do not possess a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate. That’s over 90% of vehicles plying on Telangana’s roads, a large share of them in Hyderabad.The compliance rate among ageing vehicles is even more worrying. As of Feb 2, the state has around 47.8 lakh vehicles that are 15 years old or more. Yet barely 1% (about 88,000) vehicles have a valid PUC certificate. Older vehicles, particularly diesel ones, are known to emit significantly higher levels of pollutants.Given that vehicular emissions are a key contributor to deteriorating air quality, especially in Hyderabad, environmentalists expressed serious concern.“The govt must ramp up scrutiny and introduce visible compliance mechanisms to improve enforcement. They can introduce colour-coded PUC stickers that must be displayed on vehicles. These stickers linked digitally to a database would allow traffic personnel to quickly check violators,” said BV Subba Rao, environmentalist.RTA officials said that enforcement drives against vehicles without valid PUC certificates need to be intensified.“We are planning to introduce Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, which will automatically generate challans for vehicles lacking mandatory documents such as PUC certificates and integrate them with the e-challan system. The proposal is currently in the tender process, and we hope to roll it out this year,” said C Ramesh, joint transport commissioner, Hyderabad.Road safety experts flagged serious irregularities within the existing PUC issuance system, questioning the credibility of emission certification itself.“Forget about invalid PUC certificates, even valid certificates are questionable. That’s because a majority of PUC centre operators manually enter emission readings without actually testing the vehicle, and issue certificates. Authorities, in turn, rely on the data submitted by these centres without independent verification,” alleged Vinod Kanumala from the Indian Federation of Safety.Insurance non-compliance equally alarmingThe non-compliance extends beyond emission norms. RTA data reveals that over 1.4 crore vehicles in Telangana do not have valid motor insurance – a mandatory requirement under the Motor Vehicles Act. Lack of insurance not only violates the law but also leaves vehicle owners financially vulnerable in case of accidents, repairs, or third-party liability claims.PUC and insurance certificates are among the four essential documents, along with a driving licence and vehicle registration certificate, that motorists must produce during vehicle checks. Both are also mandatory during renewal of vehicle registration and fitness certificate.Kanumala attributed this gap to weak enforcement on the ground.“Police rarely check insurance documents during routine inspections and tend to focus more on RC and driving licences. Insurance verification happens mostly after accidents,” he said, adding, “When there is any transaction with the RTA, some agents create temporary or fake insurance policies just to complete the process. Officials often do not scrutinise these documents thoroughly.”
