Around 41% of the public vehicles in Kathmandu Valley, inspected in a month, are running against the pollution standards set by the government.
The inspections were conducted by a joint team, consisting of officials from the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), Kathmandu Metropolitan Traffic Police and the Department of Environment (DoE).
The DoE informed that 143 out of 341 vehicles, including diesel-powered public buses, water tankers and microbuses, were found to be breaking the pollution emissions standards set by the government of Nepal.
A fine of Rs 5,000 has already been slammed on vehicles that fail the test for the first time.
Director-General of the DoE, Navaraj Ghimire, informed that owners of the vehicles that failed the pollution test are given another chance to make necessary changes to meet the government’s pollution standards.
Issuing a notice, the department had earlier announced that vehicles failing to pass the pollution test will be fined up to Rs 1,00,000 if repeatedly found failing the pollution test and will also be banned from plying the roads.
It further said the results have encouraged tests to be carried out more strictly as vehicle emission is a major factor in air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley.
Every year, as winter approaches, Nepal’s, especially Kathmandu’s air quality deteriorates to hazardous levels. While Kathmandu’s air quality consistently features in the world’s Top 10 Most Polluted Cities from the months of December to March every year, in March 2021 and March 2022, Kathmandu’s air quality was ranked the worst in the world.
