Have you ever covered your face on seeing a moving bus on the road? When one travels along the Attingal- Varkala route and also on the routes where private buses ply, in the city outskirts it is hard to find a person moving without either tying a handkerchief on his or her face or covering nose with the hand.
With the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads day by day, pollution has become a cause for great concern and city life is becoming more and more hazardous. As per rules, vehicle owners have to produce a `pollution under control’ certificate issued by the authorised agents for getting the fitness certificate from the Road Transport Authority concerned. But, it appears that the rule is not applicable to Government vehicles.
If the certificate is made mandatory to public vehicles, no transport bus could be taken to the road.
The transport buses emit a good amount of carbon monoxide that cause chronic bronchitis and other respiratory disorders. As per experts, the toxicity of the pollutants exhaled from vehicles is far more than that of smoking. Hence, the insistence of fitness certificates only for private vehicles is nothing but a hoax. The authorities, perhaps, find this a source of revenue to the government. If the authorities were genuinely concerned with the health condition of the public, they would never issue `fitness certificates’ to the transport buses. Hapless public are the victims of negligence of the authorities at all times.
Fossil fuel combustion has been pointed out as the largest contributor of air pollution in all vehicles. Even though private buses are less in districts when compared to that in other districts, the ones that exist has been polluting the entire environment. However the district is all set to accept the title ‘polluted’ with both private and some KSRTC buses plying without conducting any smoke test and possessing emission certificates. Every vehicle, including that used for public transport, has to get an emission certificate.
Smoke from these vehicles considerably escalates toxic chemicals in the air. However, apart from causing irritation to the eyes, nose and lungs, these chemicals also affect general health. There are many independent agencies which tests and gives emission certificates. As far as KSRTC buses are concerned, they are subjected to smoke check but even then many are spotted without emission certificates.
