The Environment Department under the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has announced that it would prohibit polluting vehicles from plying the streets from next week, as many vehicle owners and drivers did not take the metropolis’ warnings seriously.

Officials say that many vehicles that were fined for emitting black smoke beyond permissible levels, have either ignored the warnings of the city office or taken measures only to avoid fines.

“We have decided to take stringent measures against polluting vehicles, which include restricting them from plying the roads from next week,” said Jagatman Shrestha, traffic expert adviser at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office. “Stern actions will be taken as per the mandates given to local governments by the constitution.”

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.

Random on-the-spot emissions testing of vehicles has been a long overdue plan of the metropolis to tackle growing air pollution in 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.

Of around 1,300 vehicles which underwent emission testing so far, around 80 percent of diesel vehicles—buses, micro-buses and pick up trucks—operating on Kathmandu’s roads have been found emitting black smoke beyond permissible levels. Likewise, 30 percent of petrol vehicles have also failed in the testing.

“What concerns us much is some vehicles failed our testing on the same day they received a green sticker from the Department of Transport Management,” said Shrestha. “I cannot say there is something wrong in the process of providing green stickers, but vehicle owners also might have tricked the system by keeping fuel levels low to show less smoke.”

In the initial stage, the metropolis carried out testing for awareness raising and warned drivers and owners to keep their vehicle engines fit to avoid fines and legal action, and had obtained written commitments from vehicles that failed the initial test.

Later, it slapped Rs1,000 fines on drivers of polluting vehicles for ignoring warnings from the city office to carry out timely maintenance of their vehicle’s engines.

The city office had also taken six polluting diesel vehicles under its control and released them after a few days with written commitments from the owners to ensure they do not emit fumes beyond permissible levels before returning them to the roads.

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, curb air pollution, and reduce 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 to keep vehicles and their seats clean, taking passenger complaints about the harassment and misbehaviours from drivers and their helpers. Officials say they are aware of the harassment passengers encounter in public vehicles.