Clean air: Green squad to hit Sukkur for noise and smoke pollution

Good cars will get green stickers, bad cars red.

SUKKUR:

A Vehicular Emission Testing Station, equipped with sensors and smoke analysers, will monitor the noise and smoke emissions in Sukkur, said the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (EPA) director-general, Nawaz Naseem, at Circuit House on Tuesday.

In collaboration with the home department, the EPA will monitor Sukkur for one month by inspecting vehicles at various locations of the city. Naseem said the aim of the campaign is not just to penalise people but to make vehicles more environment friendly.

EPA green squads equipped with gas analysers, smoke and noise meters, will monitor the vehicular exhaust and noise levels. The vehicles producing smoke and noise pollution which exceed the permitted limits will be fined and issued a red sticker. They will require maintenance and will be re-inspected at the testing station. Vehicles within the limits will be issued green stickers.

Naseem said that due to the 18th constitutional amendment, the federal government has devolved the EPA to the provinces and therefore, a policy for the protection of the environment has been initiated. Vehicles with pressure horns and noisy silencers will be monitored as well. Hospitals, industries and civic utilities are also being monitored to ensure that solid waste and waste water are being disposed properly.

In the financial year 2010-2011, during work in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, 14,508 vehicles were checked. Out of the total, 4,324 vehicles were found emitting excessive noise and smoke and 2,530 vehicles were fined.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2012.