Ghaziabad: Though the rollout was planned well in advance, the administrative machinery was still unprepared for the rollout of the ‘no PUCC, no fuel’ rule in Noida and Ghaziabad on Thursday, and the first day of the drive remained marred by confusion at petrol pumps, with a technical glitch in the food and civil supplies department’s mobile application disrupting certificate verification for much of the day.At the four pumps across the two NCR cities that TOI visited, fuel continued to be dispensed to motorists without any checking of pollution under control certificates (PUCC). Fuel station staff claimed the app had stopped functioning at 7 am. It functioned briefly from 2 pm before it conked off once again around 3.20 pm and remained so till late into the evening, leaving both fuel station operators and officials from the supply department and Regional Transport Office (RTO) uncertain about how to implement the rule.Ghaziabad district supply officer (DSO) Amit Kumar Tiwari said the server was unable to take the load as many people started using it all at once. “The server was overloaded. It had been functioning fine until a day before. We are in touch with the team in Lucknow and getting it fixed. These are initial hiccups and, as we progress, they will be taken care of,” Tiwari said.The official said the objective of the drive, which enforces directions of Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to curb severe vehicular air pollution ahead of the peak winter smog season, was to ensure that vehicle owners obtained valid PUCCs. He added that it had already made an impact as the number of vehicles without valid PUCCs had come down from around 26,000 to 15,000 over the past 10 days.In Noida, DSO Neelesh Utpal said the application had been downloaded at 136 fuel stations across the district and that teams were monitoring its implementation. “The server could not take the load because the rule was implemented in both NCR districts. Our teams have been on constant monitoring, and it will improve,” he said.ARTO officials also told TOI that the glitches would be resolved over the next few days and advised motorists to visit RTO office or upload documents on RTO website to update contact numbers.On the ground, fuel station staff struggled to keep track of when the app was functioning and when it was not.At Jnanaki Nath Filling Station in Sanjay Nagar, owner Vipin Sharma said checks had stopped around 7 am when the app went down. “The app started working after 2 pm and so we have now begun checking vehicles,” he said.Amar Pal, who works at the station’s PUCC kiosk, said at least eight vehicle owners who had come for refuelling were turned away since morning, and that around half of those who wanted to renew PUCCs were also sent back because they had purchased second-hand motorcycles and had not updated the registered mobile number, making it impossible to receive the OTP. “Since morning, there have been 17 to 18 vehicles lined for PUCC. We could not issue certificates to most as the server was down,” he said.At an Indirapuram fuel station, only five to six vehicles had been checked by afternoon. Manager Satyaprakash of CNL Automobile said the station had put up a banner about the new rule but saw little point in denying fuel while the application was down.In Noida’s Sector 62, HP petrol pump had neither started PUCC verification nor displayed a banner about the rule when TOI visited. Station manager Suber said the link to the application had been sent but staff had been unable to download it. “It would be an additional problem for vehicle owners. We already see a lot of consumers. We will implement it once the app is properly functional. For now, we are giving fuel to everyone,” he said.One exception stood out. At a petrol pump in Sector 18, the rule was being enforced despite the technical disruption. Owner Samar Garg said compliance had created an additional burden but there was no option. “It is for the betterment of the people and we are abiding by it. I have employed three people only to check the PUCC registration of bikes. We have been denying fuel to those not having it even though the app has been functioning on and off,” Garg said.Among those turned away was Sahil (19), who uses his motorcycle to sell flowers and had already dragged the bike from one fuel station in the afternoon heat. His motorcycle, bought second-hand from a relative in Balrampur, had no updated registration linked to his mobile phone. “They are saying they won’t give me fuel. I hardly make Rs 300 to Rs 400 a day; what will I feed my family now?” he said.
