Day in and out, municipal corporation vehicles, especially the tipper trucks and AMTS buses that still run on diesel, emanate thick smoke into the atmosphere while plying on the city roads or while waiting at busy traffic junctions.

The situation is very pathetic at junctions like Jamalpur and Naroda Memco besides the Behrampura area where the AMC tipper trucks carry solid waste to dump at landfill sites and then visit the workshop for filling diesel.

At present, it is the vehicles from the AMC rather than the three wheelers plying in the city that emit pollutants the most.

It is also surprising that there are no provisions at present to check pollution levels in municipal vehicles, especially those coming under the maintenance of the central workshop.

Vijay Mistry, in-charge, joint director (mechanical) at the central workshop, admits that the vehicles are not checked for pollution control at the workshop; the reason being that the emission checking equipment cannot be used for this job due to technical reasons.

“It does not have a web camera which is now mandatory for checking pollution level in a vehicle,” he said.

He, however, maintains that the vehicles are checked periodically every six months at some outside agency. According to him, once a year, RTO officials check the vehicles. However, the smoke emitting from these vehicles belie his claims.

The vehicles are not checked for pollution levels. Moreover, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has not covered the 70 odd trucks and other vehicles it owns, for third party insurance. But according to sources, these vehicles get through the RTO checks, nevertheless.

A very senior official in the AMC says these vehicles are not insured because of the very high premium involved and a lower rate of claim. The premium paid proves much higher than the settlement amount and therefore, it is not feasible to get them insured against third party involvement in accidents, he says, adding that this saves the corporation a fortune.

Sources further say that these vehicles are also rarely involved in accidents.