Checking Vehicular Pollution Raise People’s Awareness

By Uttam Maharjan

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are now clamouring for the preservation of the environment all over the world. Human activities are responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Human activities carried out for the sake of bringing about human welfare and benefits that have made deleterious effects on the environment.

Air Pollution

The air environment in Kathmandu has been severely affected over the past few years. Factory effluents and vehicular pollutants may be considered the main culprits.. The perennial problem of air pollution has pervaded every nook and cranny of the world. And Kathmandu valley is not an exception.

The number of vehicles has burgeoned dramatically over the past eight or nine years. Now the number of vehicles plying on the Kathmandu streets is around 150,000 whereas the available streets, both metalled and non-metalled, are about 935 kilometres in length, thus exerting tremendous pressure on the roads.

The vehicular emissions that consist mainly of carbon monoxide are harmful not only to the environment but also to human health.

Too much carbon monoxide, inter alia, impairs the lungs by reducing their potential for carrying oxygen and affects the respiratory system thereby inducing such ailments as asthma and whooping cough. The fumes from adulterated petrol and diesel oil produce ocular irritation. Tetraethyllead or tetramethyllead used as an anti-knock agent in petrol disperses a large quantity of lead in the air. Because of its bowl-like shape, pollutants are trapped in the Kathmandu Valley for a long period thereby adding to air pollution.

In view of the growing air pollution problem, the government made a landmark decision in Bhadra, 2056. As a first token of the seriousness over the problem, Vikram tempos were banned from the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and the Lumbini region; the registration of two-stroke vehicles was annulled; and tractors, power tillers, trucks, lorries and dumpers were banned from operating within the Ring Road area of Kathmandu.

In fact, Vikram tempos are highly polluting. Their emission level exceeds 95 HSU (Hatridge smoke unit), whereas the levels are up to 75 HSU for the diesel vehicles of up to the 2051 model and up to 65 HSU for the vehicles of the subsequent models as per the emission standard of 2054.

The decision of the government also cancelled the registration of the auctioned-off old, useless vehicles belonging to governmental bodies, corporations and diplomatic missions, in Bagmati Zone.

As the emission standard of 2054 turned out to be inadequate with the changing times, the government introduced a new emission standard in Poush, 2056 called the Nepal Vehicular Mass Emission, 2056. As per the standard, the registration of very old vehicles was cancelled and the import of reconditioned vehicles was banned. However, this standard does not apply to the import of reconditioned fire brigades and ambulances.

In consideration of the growing air pollution, the transfer and registration of those vehicles having seen more than 20 years’ service were banned. Those vehicles less that 20 years were allowed to be registered outside the Kathmandu valley but banned from operating in the valley. Similarly, the two-stroke vehicles meeting the standard of 2056 were not allowed to be registered in the Kathmandu valley, Pokhara and the Lumbini region. The government’s decision to ban the registration of certain vehicles seems to have been made in view of the limited roads.

The emission standard of 2056 conforms to the Euro-1 standard in use in the European Union countries. However, this standard is not applicable to tractors, power tillers, bulldozers, loaders, dumpers, cranes, rollers, excavators and suchlike vehicles.

As a replacement of Vikram tempos, the government announced the introduction of microbuses into the Kathmandu valley. These buses have a capacity of seating ten to fourteen passengers. The import of such vehicles allowed 99 per cent customs duties with no VAT.

Microbuses run on a less polluting fuel-natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Despite these facilities and the government’s repeated persuasion to import such buses, no microbus has arrived in the Kathmandu valley till now. The tempo-wallahs seem to be averse to microbuses. After all, you can take a horse to a river but cannot force it to drink water.. However, the dely in the arrival of microbuses has inconvenienced passengers and commuters since the Vikram tempos are no more plying the streets of Kathmandu.

Pressure Group

There are certain groups working in the environmental preservation sector. These groups, concerned about the degrading environment, are in the forefront to ensure that pollution levels in Kathmandu will not get from bad to worse. These groups have been engaged in public awareness and pressure campaigns, submitting various suggestions about controlling pollutants to the Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE). It is to be hoped that these groups would be successful in raising the people’s awareness concerning pollution and the urgent need to protect the environment since without their cooperation, preserving the nation’s fragile ecology for posterity would be an uphill task.

RANDOM NOTES

Not Fair

THIS year’s budget speech has been music to the ears of government employees. They received a notable raise in their salaries, with effect from the first of coming Shrawan. The increase has been made according to the Pay Commission Report, the government says. But this is not the first time salary have been hiked in such magnitude.

After the restoration of democracy, the elected government substantially increased the salaries. In 2049, the salary of peon rose from 510 rupees to 1,100 rupees, and that of the chief secretary from 3,700 to 6,400 rupees. In 2054 BS, too, a notable increase had been announced. And, now the latest pay raise of 2057. According to the new pay-scales, a peon draws 3,000 rupees a month while the chief secretary gets 15,000 rupees. The 2054 pay-scale gave a peon 2,000 and the chief secretary 8,000 rupees. In between, there were increase of allowances, which have been scrapped now.

There is not much to cheer about for the lowest level employees. Why? The raises leave too much wide gap. The existing gap between the lowest and highest salaries is in the ratio of 1 to 4. But now it has been made five times. That means the salaries of the higher levels have shown big jumps. The peon’s salary has increased just about 17 per cent while that of the special class has gone up by 92 per cent. It is regressive kind of salary increase.

The principle should be that even the lowest level employee should have a reasonably decent living condition. That is not possible with just an increase of 500 or 600 rupees. If you look at the increases from the section officer upwards, the lack of fairness shows up. The lowest salary scale should have been not less than 4,000 rupees in the present hike. With the lowest being 3,000 rupees, the highest should not have been more than 12,000 rupees, in any case.

The other reason for the crying need for a hefty increase of the salaries of the lowest levels is that the salaries they draw is all they get. But for high level bureaucrats, tours, national and international, meetings allowance and other benefits will bring in, in many cases, more than their salaries. This is without counting the extras many are suspected of sporting. If it were said that those who would forgo their salaries would be offered high bureaucratic posts, there would be many takers. But if the same offer were made for the lower level non-officer posts, hardly anybody would show up to grab the opportunity. This is still another reason for the charm the top bureaucratic posts hold for people.

Price Increases

The Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya said that it was just a psychological illusion to think that salary increases would lead to a rise in the price level. The government salaries have been notably hiked. So karmacharis in the private sector would not remain hand-tied as to their salary structures. The employers would be forced to give more to their employees, too. Now wages of factory workers could be increased. The government may have to announce the upward revisions of factory wages. So workers and employees in other sectors would not rest till they get their raises, too. Already, the PABSON, the umbrella organisation of boarding and private schools, is considering increasing the salaries of teachers and other employees of the schools. With the increase in school salaries, fees would be increased. With the increases in factory wages and salaries, the prices of their products would go up. With the increases in the wages and salaries of the service sector, the prices of services for the consumers would go up. This notable increase in wages and salaries thorughout the country cutting across the sectors of the economy would increase the money supply too. This coupled with large deficit financing is bound to jack up the general price level.