Overview
- The Transport Department has suspended pollution-related fines until April 1 and halted e-detection at toll gates, and it plans to rationalise the Rs 10,000 penalty.
- The state’s move to link fuel sales to valid PUC certificates, slated for January 1, led to long queues and operational breakdowns at testing centres.
- Authorities first deferred enforcement to February 1, then to March 31, before announcing a broader relaxation through April 1.
- Only about 21% of vehicles in Odisha currently have a valid PUC, with roughly 60 lakh unrenewed and around 20 lakh never applied after the initial exemption.
- Protests intensified, with Youth Congress activists scuffling with police at the transport minister’s residence as BJD and Congress leaders decried mismanagement and demanded a rollback.