According to the traffic police department, city buses are among the biggest air polluters, though all of them somehow have Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates.

The traffic police, during the last few months, booked about a dozen offences against such buses for auto-emission, more than the permissible level. One of these buses-GJ-1-Z-2438-was challaned thrice for not meeting pollution control standards. Its driver Hasan Ahmed Miyan told the traffic policemen that he had brought the defects in the vehicle to the knowledge of the workshop's mechanic and also told the authorities concerned with the bus' challaning, but nothing was done.

In its drive against vehicular-pollution, non-cognisable offences under Sections 115 and 190(2) of Motor Vehicles Act were also booked against GJ-1-Z-2443 on June 21, 1999 and GJ-1-T-9795 on September 7, 1999 vide memo no. 140521.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Siddhartha Khatri said that he took the action against the polluting ST buses on the directions of the Gujarat High Court's order dated February 2, 1999, which ruled that all vehicles, including government owned and ST buses, should get PUC certificates from competent authorities every six months.

Khatri said that he had written several times to Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) authorities here to get their buses examined by authorised agents for checking vehicular pollution. According to reports submitted by his staff, the quantum of gases emitted by a majority of the ST buses was beyond permissible levels. ``Probably, the entire fleet of ST buses will have to be challaned if the traffic police act strictly'', he said.

Khatri said that a meeting of the traffic police and GSRTC officials was held on in June 1999 wherein the latter were apprised of the court directions and the significance of PUC. ``Though PUCs have been procured there has been little improvement from the earlier position as far as pollution is concerned'', said another traffic police official.

GSRTC's divisional controller N D Patel, when questioned, said the ST buses should be sent off the road after covering 5 lakh kilometres but financial conditions and increasing transport requirements due to the city's rapid growth forced the department to continue with the old buses which were the major offenders. ``However, I am looking into complaints of pollution against ST buses by the traffic police and taking measures to check it'', he stated But GSRTC sources said that another important reason for pollution by ST buses was the highly adulterated fuel, apart from the heirachical bureaucracy that obstructed proper maintenance of vehicles.