The Environment Department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City said that the ongoing crackdown on polluting vehicles in the Capital city has encouraged vehicle owners to carry out timely maintenance of their vehicles.

Vehicle owners have begun servicing their vehicle engines on time or committing to take their vehicles directly to workshops if caught by metropolis officials during random emission tests on the road.

“We have already detained over 100 vehicles, mostly diesel vehicles such as public buses, microbuses, trucks and pick-up trucks,” said Jagatman Shrestha, traffic expert adviser at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office. “Positive changes have been noticed in vehicle owners. Compared to the past, the trend of timely engine maintenance has increased.”

Random on-the-spot emissions testing of vehicles had long been a plan of the metropolis to tackle growing air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley. The city office started carrying out emissions testing on January 13 in coordination with the traffic police, and the federal Department of Environment and the Department of Transport Management.

In the initial stage, the metropolis conducted tests to raise awareness and warned drivers and owners to keep their engines in good condition to avoid fines and legal action. The metropolis also obtained written commitments from owners of vehicles that failed the initial test.

Later, it slapped Rs1,000 fines on drivers of polluting vehicles who ignored earlier warnings to carry out timely maintenance.

So far, emission tests have been carried out on over 2,300 vehicles, mostly public vehicles.

Shrestha said that 70 percent of the diesel vehicles and 30 percent of petrol vehicles were found emitting black smoke beyond permissible levels.

Some of the vehicles failed the KMC’s emission testing even on the same day they received a green sticker from the federal Department of Transport Management, according to officials. They suspect vehicle owners may have tricked the system by keeping fuel levels low to produce less smoke during inspection by the department.

Although vehicle emission testing is mainly the responsibility of federal agencies, the constitution also mandates local governments to take measures to reduce pollution, officials say.

The metropolis has developed pollution control guidelines as per the KMC Environment and Natural Resources Protection Act-2021.

Metropolis officials say more problems have been found in vehicles older than 20 years. The government has announced several times its intention to ban vehicles older than 20 years throughout the country to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, and road accidents caused by old vehicles. However, the decision has not yet been implemented.

Meanwhile, the city office said it would soon enforce mandatory rules requiring vehicles and their seats to be kept clean, in response to passenger complaints about harassment and misbehaviours by drivers and their helps. Officials say they are aware of the harassment passengers encounter in public vehicles.