KATHMANDU, June 30: The government will restrict all vehicles failing their pollution test from entering Kathmandu Valley from July 17. In a bid to curb pollution from four-wheel vehicles, the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) recently imported 40 pollution testing sets .
According to DoTM, the sets will be put to use to make green stickers mandatory for all four-wheelers in all 753 local bodies in the country. However, under the existing rules, two wheelers are not subject to pollution testing.
According to DoTM officials, 20 'gas analyzer' sets for testing the emission of petrol vehicles and 20 'smoke meter' sets for diesel vehicles were imported a week ago. “The emission tests will be carried out from July 17,” said Tulasi Ram Aryal, spokesperson at DoTM.
Most public vehicles in the valley fail pollution test
Pollution testing booths will be operated at different locations in the Valley. The pollution standard for vehicles is 1,000 PPM smoke, three percent carbon monoxide and 2.44 QSU smoke quantity.
According to a whitepaper issued in April by the Ministry of Forests and Environment, vehicle emission is responsible for 37 percent of air pollution in the country. Records at DoTM show that 3.8 million vehicles, including 2.3 million motorcycles, have been registered in Nepal.
Aryal at DoTM claimed that green stickers will be a must for all vehicles entering the Valley from July 17. “Vehicles failing the pollution test or having no green sticker will be kept out,” he said.
DoTM wanted to enforce the green sticker rule and pollution tests from April 14. But the plan was not implemented due to delay in bringing the sets. DoTM published the tender for the equipment in March.
Pollution testing posts have already been set up at the Transport Management Office in Lalitpur and at the Transport Management Service Office and the Vehicle Test Office in Kathmandu.
Vehicles that fail to meet the pollution test will be given red stickers.
As per the rules, public transport vehicles have to test for pollution every six months while private vehicle must test annually. Red sticker vehicles will be allowed to drive only to a workshop.
