News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The environment, forest and climate change ministry on Sunday sent a letter to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority requesting removal of buses, minibuses, trucks and covered vans exceeded their economic life from roads in an effort to reduce air pollution.
The ministry, in a press release, also urged the authority to make emission testing mandatory when issuing fitness certificates for old diesel-powered buses and trucks.
The release read that under the leadership of Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the ministry’s adviser, several initiatives had been undertaken to control environmental pollution.
As part of these efforts, the BRTA has been requested to take steps to remove buses and minibuses older than 20 years and trucks and covered vans older than 25 years from roads and to ensure mandatory emission testing for old diesel vehicles during their fitness checks.
‘In line with the decisions made in the first and second meetings of the National Committee on Air Pollution Control, BRTA will take appropriate measures to remove unfit vehicles and those that have exceeded their economic lifespan from the roads,’ it continued.
Emission testing would also be mandatory for old diesel-powered buses and trucks during fitness checks in Dhaka, the release added.
Earlier, the road transport and bridges ministry in May 2023 set the economic life of buses at 20 years and trucks and covered vans at 25 years.
Following the pressure from different transport associations, the ministry, however, backtracked on the decision in August same year and held the order on economic life of vehicles.
According to the BRTA, there were a total of around 73,000 vehicles exceeding their economic life, around 35,700 registered buses older than 20 years and around 37,200 trucks and covered vans over 25 years, on roads across the country till April this year.
