EPA bans environmentally unfit vehicles

Balochistan EPA has issued notices to departments with large fleets of buses plying on the roads of Quetta

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned vehicles creating air pollution in Quetta.

Talking to APP, an official of Balochistan EPA Muhammad Khan said the government had phased out 100 busses in the last month which were creating air pollution and were running on intercity routes and different city thoroughfares on ‘non-compliant diesel fuel’ containing high ratio of hazardous sulphur dioxide.

There were more than 10,000 two-stroke auto rickshaws running in Quetta city which were lethally contributing to the smog outbreak in the provincial capital. The government has placed a ban on them to ensure pollution-free environment in the city, Khan said.

“Our teams are equipped with proper gadgets to check the emissions of vehicular fleets at random," he said. “At present, most of the air pollution is mainly due to increased vehicular emissions and unbridled cars entering in the Quetta city,” he added.

The Balochistan EPA, he said, has issued notices to public and private departments with large fleets of buses plying on the roads of Quetta, instructing them to maintain their vehicles to avoid dark smoke releases.

He said it was imperative to initiate action against the vehicular pollution. However, open burning of garbage and organic rubble was also creating air pollution, Khan added, vowing to penalise perpetrators to protect environment.

"It is also the responsibility of the masses to avoid such practices and bring behavioural changes for a clean environment,” he urged.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2020.