More than 50 percent of vehicles fail pollution test

KATHMANDU, July 7: More than fifty percent of the vehicles plying in Kathmandu valley have failed the pollution test.

This is because minor maintenance after paying the fine of one thousand rupees would give such vehicle owners the green sticker to run without any hassles.

The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division carried out a traffic management and pollution control campaign for three months recently.

And during the campaign, of the 3,056 vehicles tested 1,710 failed to meet the required standard of smoke emission.

Both vehicles running with petrol as well as diesel failed the test and we are working to strengthen the pollution test ahead, said Chief of the Division, SSP Basant Kumar Pant.

Vehicles failing the pollution test are fined Rs. 1,000 and would get the green sticker after they carry out maintenance to meet the standards, said chief of the Vehicle Test Office, Kathmandu Ram Chandra Poudel.

A vehicle running in petrol should not emit carbon monoxide that is more than three percent in the smoke while the hydrocarbon should not cross 1,000 PPM.

Likewise, the smoke density in a diesel-run vehicle should not more than 65 percent.

Regular maintenance of the vehicle can keep it under the required standard for smoke emission. However, vehicle owners do not give much attention to it, thereby contributing to the increasing air pollution in the valley, Poudel said.

The three-month campaign of Traffic Police also included corridor and underpass management, road marking, footpath management, mobile education for two-wheelers, regulation of stop, drop and lift, among others. RSS