Naveen Patnaik opposes linking of pollution certificate with sale of fuel in Odisha

Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik opposed linking of Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate with sale of fuel in Odisha asking the State government to refrain from penalising people during transition period.

Terming the Mohan Majhi government’s handling of the PUC certificate enforcement as gross mismanagement, Mr. Patnaik said the faulty policy caused immense hardships, and inconvenience to the common people of Odisha.

“What started as a sudden announcement of the ‘No PUC, No Fuel’ rule from January 1, 2026, quickly descended into chaos with massive queues at testing centres across the State. The BJP government failed to prepare adequately, with no expansion of testing infrastructure, no advance planning, and no awareness campaigns on the required scale,” the former CM on ‘X’. 

“Faced with public outrage, the government was forced into multiple U-turns: first deferring enforcement to February 1, then to March 31, and most recently announcing a blanket relaxation with no fines until April 1, 2026, including suspension of e-detection at toll gates. These repeated reversals expose the utter incompetence and lack of foresight in the transport department,” he maintained.

Mr. Patnaik said the people of Odisha deserve better governance, policies that are implemented without causing unnecessary suffering.

“While controlling vehicular pollution is important, it cannot come at the cost of harassing citizens,” he said.

The BJD supremo demanded immediate scale up the PUC testing facilities, simplifying the process, and ensuring no undue penalties are imposed on people during this transition period. It is to be noted that BJD had staged massive protests against linking of PUC with sale of fuel.