Around 600 Pollution Under Control Centres (PUCC) at the 400 petrol pumps in Delhi remained shut for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as part of a strike by petrol dealers to express dissatisfaction over the proposed hike in the pollution certificate charges. The closure call for the indefinite strike was given by the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) amid tussle with the AAP led Delhi government over not revising the charges as per their demands.On July 11, the Delhi government increased the PUC certificate charges for petrol, CNG and diesel vehicles after a gap of about 13 years. The hike ranges between Rs 20 and Rs 40. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot had said earlier that these new rates will be effective as soon as the city government notifies them. In a statement issued on Sunday, the DPDA said the PUCC rates were last revised in 2011 after a gap of six years and the percentage increase was more than 70. They expressed their dissatisfaction over the nominal increase of the prices despite a revision after a period of more than a decade. "The rate hike announced by the Delhi government now after 13 years is merely 35 per cent, whereas all our expenses in the operation of a PUC centre have increased multiple times, with just the wages having increased three times from 2011 to 2024," the statement said. A Transport Department official said the hike had been proposed keeping in mind the customers and petrol dealers.  "In response to the long-pending demands of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association and to keep up with the rising costs of pollution checking services, we have decided to revise the rates. This revision is necessary to ensure that pollution checking stations can continue to operate efficiently and provide quality services to the public, Gahlot said. According to officials, there are around 945 PUCC in Delhi, including around 600 at petrol pumps.

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