Kathmandu, May 15: Nepal government has intensified the drive to take 20-year-old vehicles off the road. The decision to take the environmentally contagious vehicles off the road comes as a follow up for a decision to ban them from March 15.
A total of 395 vehicles out of 5,000 20-year-old vehicles to be taken off the road were either taken under control or dismantled till date. The government had received application for de-registration of 316 vehicles at transportation management offices across the country. Out of them, 21 were in the process of getting de-registered as of April 13, according to the data.
“We have intensified inspection across the country for the public vehicles that are 20 years or older. We took 79 vehicles under control in the last month of 2074 B.S. i.e.mid-april.”, said Tulsi Ram Aryal, Spokesperson at the DoTM.
The relatively lower number of deregistered vehicles is a result of entrepreneurs shifting the operational routes for old vehicles to rural areas where the traffic police are not available. The government is committed to bringing all the outdated vehicles off the road as they are all injurious to the environment, added Aryal.
As the government is firm on its commitment to drive all the 20 years+ old vehicles off the roads, stakeholders including some environmentalists have shown concern saying not all the vehicles should be discarded. They have said that even though some Indian manufactured vehicles have a very low life expectancy, vehicles manufactured elsewhere including Japanese vehicles can sustain operation for decades.
Entrepreneurs have also complained that the compulsory replacement of perfectly fine vehicles would only increase the cost of the operation as they will have to import new ones from abroad. They have demanded that the government make emission tests of the vehicles and allow them on the roads if they pass the criteria for healthy vehicles.
