Ultrafine particles, which are less than 0.1 micron meter in size, are emitted by all vehicle exhaust systems but more by diesel vehicles. Diesel is carcinogenic and has proven to be the most harmful substance as it has fine particles that can easily go through to the lungs and damage respiratory system.
Kiran Manandhar, chest specialist at Bir Hospital, Kathmandu says, "Pollution-related diseases show symptoms like cough, headache, nausea, irritation of eyes, various bronchial problems and even loss of visibility. These are caused by inhalation of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, soot and other gases from exhaust pipes of vehicles."
Records at Bir show 405 patients had been admitted in the hospital last year due to respiratory diseases out of whom 65 died. Manandhar says Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients have increased significantly in the last 10 years. This coincides with the massive boom in the number of vehicles in the Valley in the same period.
According to Department of Transport Management, Bagmati zone has 444,759 vehicles — majority of which operate in the Valley. The number was just 117,836 ten years ago.
Chief of Environment Department at Kathmandu Municipality Rabin Man Shrestha blames use of impure fuel and unrepaired vehicles for vehicular pollution.
Traffic jams also play a major role in polluting the environment as vehicles have to travel for longer time period at a slower pace to reach the destination. "If the vehicles that move at the speed of 10 km/hr could only move at 30 km/ hr, smoke emission can be halved," says Bhushan Tuladhar, the executive director of Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO).
Tuladhar says over 50 percent of pollution is contributed by 20 percent of old unmaintained vehicles but government has done nothing about it. "Political will is a must to control pollution. It´s not that the government lacks money for this because the tax levied on petrol and diesel should have made billions of rupees by now and that amount should be used for environment protection like combating pollution."
Since the year 2000, European emission standards, pollution standards and vehicular pollution standards have been brought into force and vehicles meeting the standards are provided green stickers. But vehicular pollution shows no sign of decreasing.
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