Bhubaneswar: The Odisha transport department plans to make geo-fencing mandatory for all vehicle emission testing centers to curb rampant fraud in issuing pollution control certificates (PUCCs). The move is aimed at ensuring that vehicles undergo physical inspection before certificates are issued.The upcoming GPS-based system will require owners to bring their vehicles to a designated inspection center. Operators then conduct inspections and capture live video and photos before processing the application.“We have received complaints that vehicles are securing PUCC without physically attending the test center. To address this, we are trialling an AI-enabled geofencing software (PUCC version 2.0) for rapid deployment,” said state transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur.Additional Commissioner Dipti Ranjan Patra explained that all centers will be geo-fenced so that the authorities can verify the actual presence of vehicles before issuing certificates. Geofencing creates a 200 meter virtual perimeter around a location to track vehicle entry and exit.“PUCC version 2.0 will be integrated with the Vahan portal. Exam centers will have to install an app that will record the geographical coordinates of vehicles arriving for testing. This application will verify the presence of the vehicle within the geofenced area. Only then will the software be able to process the PUCC application,” Patra said.Currently, vehicle emission testing centers only require a photo of the vehicle's license plate to generate a certificate, but this loophole allowed operators to issue fake PUCCs at customers' doorsteps without looking for the physical presence of the vehicle. These unchecked vehicles continue to pollute the air.“To bridge this gap, PUCC 2.0 will mandate landscape images of vehicles at test centers, short live videos of emissions tests captured via the PUCC app, and geolocation data from mobile devices used to capture photos and videos,” Patra said.There are currently around 1,500 vehicle emission testing centers in operation in Odisha with over 1,800 machines. Transport Minister Vibhuti Bhusan Jena warned of strict action against violators. “We have already canceled the licenses of 42 centers that were found to be issuing fake certificates,” Jena said.
