Fitness check: Calling all motor vehicle examiners
EPD’s vehicle pollution campaign lacks manpower for effectiveness.
There are 250,000 two-stroke rickshaws operating unlawfully while a Transport Department survey says that about 70,000 motor cycle rickshaws are also operating without permit, says EPA.PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The Environment Protection Department’s campaign against polluting vehicles is being hampered by the irregular attendance of motor vehicle examiners.
The campaign was halted on December 31, 2012, and resumed on April 3, 2013, on the orders of the Environment Protection Authority Secretary Sher Alam Mehsud. The campaign has been launched in collaboration with the Lahore Transport Company and the city traffic police.
According to the EPA Punjab vehicle-wing officer Azmat Naz, the campaign would not succeed if the motor vehicles examiners who are checking the vehicles for fitness and issuing certificates at the city’s only motor vehicles examining centre at Badami Bagh are not efficient.
Naz said that the MVEs are certified to check cars for fitness and responsible for issuing engine fitness certificates to all public vehicles in the city. “They need to participate to make this campaign a success.” A letter, she added, had also been sent to the Regional Transport Authority at the end of March but so far there had been no response.
Currently, there are two motor vehicles examiners at the Badami Bagh centre. Naz said there were 250,000 two-stroke rickshaws operating unlawfully while a Transport Department survey says that about 70,000 motor cycle rickshaws are also operating without a permit in the city. Both pose a serious risk to health and the environment by emitting dangerous levels of carbon and sulphur oxides.
The EPA has also engaged rickshaw unions.
Naz said a meeting was held with the heads of several auto rickshaw unions and they were urged to cooperate with the campaign. During the meetings, the unions were told to get rid of unsafe cylinders and install standardised vehicle gas cylinders.
Owners of two-stroke rickshaws are being told to convert them to four-stroke engines. According to a 2012 EPA study, Vehicle Pollution Control, motorcycle rickshaws have a smoke-emitting capacity of 66.3 per cent, compared to 5 to 8 per cent for a four-stroke motorbike or rickshaw. The smoke emitting capacity goes up by 15 per cent if the engine is more than a year old.
According to data provided by the EPA, so far 270 vehicles have been fined and 803 have been issued warnings. Thirty pressure horns, exceeding the legal noise limit of 85db, have also been confiscated from buses, including some run by the Lahore Transport Authority. Fines of Rs89,160 have been imposed.
Currently, the EPA is trying to ensure that pollution parameters prescribed under Section 15 of the Punjab Environment Protection Act 2012 are met, EPA inspector Ali Raza said. Traffic police wardens are issuing the fines, he added. Raza said motorcycles and two-stroke rickshaws were responsible for 60 per cent of the city’s total vehicle pollution.
Meanwhile four squads at four stations across Lahore have been tasked with inspections. An MVE, an EPA inspector, a traffic warden and an LTC official comprise a squad. However, the MVEs are always missing from the squads. A squad works in Model town and Gulberg and an inspection station has been set up at the Barkat Market. Mobile stations have also been set up at the City Railway Station, Shaukat Khanum Road in Saddar, and the police station roundabout in Cantonment.
Naz said the deadline for phasing out the two-stroke rickshaw has been extended on many occasions. The last deadline was December 31, 2012. “Now we face the challenge of effectively enforcing the campaign to phase the two-stroke rickshaws out,” she added.
The EPA and auto rickshaw unions have also arranged an awareness walk today (April 11) and on Saturday (April 13).
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2013.
The Environment Protection Department’s campaign against polluting vehicles is being hampered by the irregular attendance of motor vehicle examiners.
The campaign was halted on December 31, 2012, and resumed on April 3, 2013, on the orders of the Environment Protection Authority Secretary Sher Alam Mehsud. The campaign has been launched in collaboration with the Lahore Transport Company and the city traffic police.
According to the EPA Punjab vehicle-wing officer Azmat Naz, the campaign would not succeed if the motor vehicles examiners who are checking the vehicles for fitness and issuing certificates at the city’s only motor vehicles examining centre at Badami Bagh are not efficient.
Naz said that the MVEs are certified to check cars for fitness and responsible for issuing engine fitness certificates to all public vehicles in the city. “They need to participate to make this campaign a success.” A letter, she added, had also been sent to the Regional Transport Authority at the end of March but so far there had been no response.
Currently, there are two motor vehicles examiners at the Badami Bagh centre. Naz said there were 250,000 two-stroke rickshaws operating unlawfully while a Transport Department survey says that about 70,000 motor cycle rickshaws are also operating without a permit in the city. Both pose a serious risk to health and the environment by emitting dangerous levels of carbon and sulphur oxides.
The EPA has also engaged rickshaw unions.
Naz said a meeting was held with the heads of several auto rickshaw unions and they were urged to cooperate with the campaign. During the meetings, the unions were told to get rid of unsafe cylinders and install standardised vehicle gas cylinders.
Owners of two-stroke rickshaws are being told to convert them to four-stroke engines. According to a 2012 EPA study, Vehicle Pollution Control, motorcycle rickshaws have a smoke-emitting capacity of 66.3 per cent, compared to 5 to 8 per cent for a four-stroke motorbike or rickshaw. The smoke emitting capacity goes up by 15 per cent if the engine is more than a year old.
According to data provided by the EPA, so far 270 vehicles have been fined and 803 have been issued warnings. Thirty pressure horns, exceeding the legal noise limit of 85db, have also been confiscated from buses, including some run by the Lahore Transport Authority. Fines of Rs89,160 have been imposed.
Currently, the EPA is trying to ensure that pollution parameters prescribed under Section 15 of the Punjab Environment Protection Act 2012 are met, EPA inspector Ali Raza said. Traffic police wardens are issuing the fines, he added. Raza said motorcycles and two-stroke rickshaws were responsible for 60 per cent of the city’s total vehicle pollution.
Meanwhile four squads at four stations across Lahore have been tasked with inspections. An MVE, an EPA inspector, a traffic warden and an LTC official comprise a squad. However, the MVEs are always missing from the squads. A squad works in Model town and Gulberg and an inspection station has been set up at the Barkat Market. Mobile stations have also been set up at the City Railway Station, Shaukat Khanum Road in Saddar, and the police station roundabout in Cantonment.
Naz said the deadline for phasing out the two-stroke rickshaw has been extended on many occasions. The last deadline was December 31, 2012. “Now we face the challenge of effectively enforcing the campaign to phase the two-stroke rickshaws out,” she added.
The EPA and auto rickshaw unions have also arranged an awareness walk today (April 11) and on Saturday (April 13).
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2013.