The number of Pollution Under Control certificates issued in Delhi rose by nearly 76 per cent on December 17, a day before the 'No PUCC, No Fuel' rule came into force in the national capital, official data shows. Earlier this week, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that vehicles without a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate will not be provided fuel at petrol pumps in the city from Thursday. A petrol pump owner said queues outside PUC centres swelled on Wednesday as motorists rushed to obtain certificates. "People were getting the certificates issued to avoid fines," he said. There are around 400 petrol pumps in Delhi, all of which have PUC centres. According to official data, 31,197 PUC certificates were issued on December 17, compared to 17,732 on December 16. This marked an increase of 13,465 certificates, or a 75.9 per cent rise within 24 hours. In the days preceding December 17, PUC issuance had remained largely stable, ranging between 16,