Out of 21 city buses checked for pollution in Pokhara, 10 buses failed the test, revealing a serious air quality concern in the city. The Pollution Control Team from the Transport Management Office, Kaski, carried out the checks at New Road in coordination with the District Traffic Police Office.
Bus drivers whose vehicles failed the test have been ordered to repair their buses immediately and are forbidden from running the buses until they pass the pollution test again. “They are not allowed to operate their buses until the vehicle passes a retest after repair,” said Dhaka Prasad Sharma, chief of the Transport Management Office, Kaski.
Those caught ignoring these rules and driving buses without passing pollution tests will face fines ranging from NPR 2,000 to NPR 10,000. The office recently imported new machinery from China to improve pollution monitoring and plans to conduct regular tests going forward.
Last week, 10 buses were tested, and 6 failed. However, those buses passed after repairs and subsequent retesting, Sharma added.
Residents and social media users have complained about thick smoke coming from city buses, making it hard to breathe outdoors. In response, Gandaki Province’s Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Prakash Bahadur KC, instructed the office to enforce stricter pollution checks and personally inspected the testing process.
Pollution levels are measured in Hartridge Smoke Units (HSU). For diesel vehicles in Nepal, an HSU reading below 65 means the bus passes, while anything above 65 is considered a failure. Higher HSU values indicate more harmful emissions, explained Mechanical Supervisor Suman Sharma.
