Pollution check on the go

The project is likely to be completed by the transport department by the end of this year

The device can record amount of fumes emitted even when vehicles are on the move. The project is likely to be completed by the transport department by year-end. A senior official of the department told MiD DAY that the government will get nearly twenty remote sensing devices for the purpose.



"We have decided to get 20 such machines. It will have devices to check pollution in real world conditions. The machines will be fitted in a vehicle and would work for all types of automobiles including those that run on diesel, petrol, CNG and LPG," said a senior official associated with the project.

The programme is the second of its kind in India, the first being run in Kolkata. "For the record, the device would automatically generate location code, time of monitoring and number plate of the vehicles. The vehicle would not be stopped for checking the emission levels," the official added.

Ticket please!
The challan would be sent to the vehicle owner's address and if not honoured, the automobile's registration can even be suspended, added the official. To start with, thrust would be at the borders of the city as major causes of pollution are commercial vehicles entering Delhi. "Challans issued to vehicles from other states would be sent to their owners' addresses," said the official.

When asked what happens if the notices are not honoured, he said, "This is being deliberated upon. We can even bar those vehicles from entering Delhi which are found violating pollution norms." The official said they do not have any data which shows who are the major contributors of air pollution in Delhi. "The perception is that commercial vehicles are major offenders. But at the same time, Delhiites do not even bother to get pollution levels of their vehicles checked. Recent data shows only 15 per cent of 68 lakh vehicles get pollution under control certificate regularly," he said.

Under Delhi Motor Vehicle Rules/Central Motor Vehicle Rules/Motor Vehicle Act, compounding fee for first offence of excess smoke 115(2)/190 (2) is Rs 900 and for second offence it is Rs 1800.For running a vehicle without pollution control certificate (115(7)/190(2), the fine is Rs 900 for the first offence and Rs 1800 for a second offence. A Remote Sensing Device (RSD) measures the exhaust emissions of vehicles as they drive by, along with the license plate numbers and other important information.

What are you driving?
The pollution standards for in use vehicles have been prescribed under Rule 115(2) of Central Motor vehicles Rules, 1989. They are:
Petrol Vehicles:
*u00a0Idling Carbon Monoxide Emission limit for all four wheeled petrol driven vehicles should not exceed 3%.
*u00a0Idling Carbon Monoxide emission limit for all two and three wheeled petrol driven vehicles should not exceed 4.5%.
Diesel Vehicles:
Smoke density for all diesel driven vehicles should not exceed 65 hartridge smoke units.

How it works
The Remote Sensing Device (RSD) uses an IR/UV Source/Detector Module to emit the beam of IR/UV energy which crosses the traffic lane to the TMM. The beam is placed at the proper height to intersect the vehicle's exhaust plume.
The system uses a high-resolution, high-speed video camera to take a photograph of the rear of the vehicle, including its license plate, while the exhaust gas measurements are being taken.
The license plate and the emissions readings are also displayed on a video monitor, which can be observed by an operator. The video image is digitized and decoded using an optical character recognition (OCR) system that automatically identifies, reads, and merges the license plate number with the vehicle's exhaust emissions readings.
The system has features that detect the vehicle's mode of operation (such as speed and acceleration/deceleration) at the time the exhaust emissions are measured. The system uses a vehicle counter device to keep track of the total traffic flow. A computer system is used to control the entire process and record all data collected.