Air pollution
Asia has the world's highest concentration of two and three wheelers, both in absolute terms and as a fraction of overall road vehicle population. In many Asian cities, these vehicles account for 50 to 90% of the total vehicle fleet of which a large percentage are powered by two stroke engines. The main pollutants of concern from 2-stroke three wheelers are hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Most three-wheeler owners, operators and associations are not willing to accept that they have a problem, which makes it difficult for governments to take action.
In Bangladesh, air pollution comes primarily from transport. Colourful masks to help people breathe better were available, but no one was willing to recognize that there was a problem with their three-wheelers, leading to health problems. The three-wheeler association, which managed about 33,110 vehicles and controlled hundreds of thousands of votes, was not willing, to accept that there was a problem. The owners were not maintaining their vehicles. The government also had to consider the big issue of suddenly rendering these people jobless. This is the case in most Asian cities. A survey of public opinion found good support for Baby Taxi phase-out. It took a determined minister to get the three-wheeler association to accept the problem and phase these out. The government gave the three-wheeler owners many incentives and options and pushed them to the wall to accept these. For the most part, drivers were rehabilitated in some way or the other.
Kathmandu has a similar story. The two stroke three-wheelers, numbering approximately 2700, were the main cause of pollution in Kathmandu. “Non- government organisations and the media worked together to build public opinion against the smoke spewing two stroke three wheelers. Nepalese also pressurized the government to take action on this issue. Most of the three wheelers were more than ten years old and had lived their economic lives. The government of Nepal finally gave orders to ban two stroke three wheelers in Kathmandu, completely phasing out the existing ones by July 2004. They gave incentives to the three-wheeler owners by allowing them to import mini buses, giving them customs waivers and allowing the auto rickshaws to play outside Kathmandu.
India has a very large number of two-wheelers, which are used as personal transport. India has led the way world over in implementing stringent emission standards for two and three wheelers. The first level of stringent standards was announced in 1996. These standards posed a big challenge to the auto manufacturing industry, most of whom were indigenous manufacturers. The manufacturers took up the challenge and made improvements to the design of the engine to minimize the deficiencies of the two stroke.
Going forward, to diminish air pollution caused by two and three wheelers, experts believe that both new vehicle and in-use standards will have to be very stringent.
Comments