Soon, drive against illegal commercial vehicles

LUCKNOW: In addition to the ongoing exercises to reduce air pollution level in the state capital, district administration will soon launch a drive against illegal commercial vehicles, especially in the city outskirts.

Besides, the administration has decided to restrict burning of wood and coal, commonly used by restaurants and ‘dhabas’ for cooking purposes.

“All efforts are being made to bring down the air pollution level in the city. The municipal corporation is spraying waters on roads and trees, besides covering of the under-construction sites to settle dust particles. The practice started on Thursday and is expected to continue. Traffic police are already taking action against diesel-run autos and tempos and unauthorised vehicles from other districts running illegally in Lucknow,” said Abhishek Prakash, district magistrate, who recently held a meeting on the air quality issue.

According to the records of regional transport office (RTO), the city has around 26793 diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old and are contributing to the air pollution and of these 900 vehicles are commercial vehicles.

In 2018 also district administration had launched the drive against diesel-run-commercial vehicles. The drive was launched after Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had issued fresh guidelines, based on the recent analysis by World Health Organisation over the deteriorating air quality of Lucknow.

In run up to drive, the district administration had also directed the RTO to ban the entry of diesel tempos in city limits. But, the efforts that lasted just for a week or two, failed to bring any change to the picture.