Exhaust Emissions of Most Kathmandu Vehicles Above National Standards

A recent test showed that nearly half the vehicles in the street are not complying with the national standards of emission level, reports The Kathmandu Post.

The Department of Environment(DoE), the Department of Transport Management(DoTM) along with the Metropolitan Traffic Police Davison(MTPD) is carrying out vehicle emission test in different parts of the Capital.

Umesh Ranjitkar, spokesperson for the MTPD said that out of 32 vehicles (17 diesel-run vehicles and 15 petrol-run vehicles) put under test at Bhadrakali, 14 (10 diesel-run and 4 petrol-run) vehicles were found to be exceeding standard emission levels on Thursday.

The vehicles tested were seven taxis, eight private cars, eight micro-buses, five public buses, two private, one government jeep and one private pick-up van. They were picked randomly as they were emitting comparatively more black smoke.

Ranjitkar said, “The random test shows vehicles in the Valley in the same ratio, mostly public vehicles, are likely to fail emission test if we put all the vehicles plying the capital roads into test.”

Ashish Gajurel, a transport and traffic engineer said that public vehicles generally have higher emission because their owners do not pay proper attention to regular maintenance. He added that these tests should be carried out more frequently.

According to the national standard, Petrol-run vehicles, manufactured before and after 1980, should not produce Carbon Monoxide(CO) more than 4.5 percent and 3.5 percent respectively in its total smoke density. And CO emission of diesel-run vehicles, which are manufactured in the same period, should not cross more than 75 percent and 65 percent under Hartridge Smoke Unit(HSU).

These tests came after the government announced a Quick Action Team(QAT) to deal with the rising pollution in the valley. Ranjitkar says that these tests will continue in different parts of the city in coming days.

The team is currently facing its own problems. “We have only three emission testing machines fixed at three different areas. The one we are using is portable but it needs electricity. We had to borrow electricity from a nearby restaurant.,” said Ranjitkar.

The team only wants to send a message to the owners to maintain their vehicles and so the vehicles that didn’t pass the emission test have not faced any action.