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Clean Air News

V O L U M E

INSIDE THIS ISSUE


City Certification
Program Initiated
in Kathmandu

Air Quality Monitoring Stations


begin Operation

Private Vehicles
Registration Doubles in One Year

1 0

I S S U E

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Sajhas 30 New Buses to Come in Operation Today

Indian Govern5
ment Declares
Delhis Air Pollution an Emergency
Good Reads

5
Thirty new buses of Sajha Yatayat are all set to The 40-seater buses, manufactured by Ashok
start operation on four new routes of Kath-

Leyland, India, can have ample space for pas-

mandu Valley from Sunday. Prime Minister

sengers to stand in the aisle. Each bus can ac-

Puspa Kamal Dahal is set to flag off the new

commodate around 100 passengers.

buses amid a function in Lalitpur, said Mahendra Raj Pandey, acting chief executive officer of
Sajha Yatayat.

With the addition of 30 more buses, the company now will be operating 46 buses.Sajha
Yatayat has expanded its services to Bhaira-

After the inauguration, the 30 buses will hit

hawa, Gorkha, Lumbini and Baglung. According

the road at 10am, said Pandey. The Bagmati

to Pandey, the transport company is planning

Zonal Office of the Department of Transport

to bring 10 deluxe buses which will be put on

Management last week approved the four

long routes.

routes as sought by Sajha Yatayat last week.


The buses were bought for Rs 3.5 million each,
according to Pandey. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has invested Rs 100 million.

Source: www.thekathmandupost.com,
November 27, 2016

PAGE

City Certification Program Initiated in Kathmandu


Clean Energy Nepal and Clean Air

focuses in institutional coordination,

The second session concentrated on

Network Nepal together with Kath-

air quality information, understanding

discussion on Air pollution reduction

mandu Metropolitan city and Clean

pollution sources, planning and infra-

action and new stakeholder engage-

Air Asia organized a workshop on 29

structure, Air pollution reduction and ment. The discussion focused on the

November 2016 to support and rec-

new stakeholder engagement.

ognize good environmental govern-

priority targets and indicators for


reducing emission. Some of the prior-

ance through clean air certification in

Regarding the initiative of Department ity areas were waste management,

Kathmandu Metropolitan

of Environment, Shanker Poudel said,

road and building construction, public

City. Around 30 participants from

Monitoring stations have been in-

awareness, greenery, cycle infrastruc-

government agencies, non-

stalled in Ratnapark of Kathmandu

ture planning, vehicle free core area,

government agencies, developmental

District, Pulchowk of Lalitpur District public transport, footpath and fre-

agencies, and academia and air pollu-

and Dhulikhel of Kavre District and

tion experts participated in the work- the data is available in the webshop.

quent consultation meeting of stakeholders.

site pollution.gov.np for the public to


access it. He added, DoE is in the

Executive Director of Clean Energy

The program started with opening

process of preparing Air Monitoring

Nepal, Kamal Raj Gosai stated that,

remarks from Clean Air Network

Action Plan and emission inventory.

City Certification is a good approach

Nepals coordinator Mr. Rajan Thapa

to curb air pollution in Kathmandu

stating, The workshop has brought

Mr. Rudra Man Singh Tamang, the

and consultation meetings among the

together diverse stakeholders and

Chief Executive Officer of Kathmandu stakeholders are important and would

participants from several Government Metropolitan City concluded the first

be one of the next step of city certifi-

Ministries, Departments and Agencies session. He opined, Black topped

cation program. He concluded the

as well as civil societies and interna-

road could solve problem of air pollu- program by saying, The preparation

tional partner such as Clean Air Asia. tion of Kathmandu Valley. The whole
width of a road should be black
Katherine from Clean Air Asia pre-

topped and the remaining space

sented the overview of Clean Air

should be used for greenery. He

Certification. She stated, The core of added, KMC is working in solid


the initiative in the development of

waste management sector for long

the Clean Air Certification is to rec-

and he

ognize actions that cities take to ad-

welcomes

dress air quality, make it easier to

coopera-

establish new collaborations with pub- tion from


lic and private stakeholders and in-

everybody

crease opportunities for cities to

until its

learn from each other and collectively managed


address issues. She added, It mainly

CLEAN

AIR

NEWS

properly.

of Clean Air Action Plan should be


the con:cern of all stakeholders.
Source: www.cen.org.np, November 29, 2016

VOLUME

10

ISSUE

PAGE

Air Quality Monitoring Stations Begin Operation


Since reviving air quality monitoring in
the Valley four months ago, the Department of Environment has started operating three air quality monitoring stations
here and in Dhulikhel.
According to the department, the three
stations in Ratnapark, Pulchowk and
Dhulikhel began air quality monitoring
since last week.
They have been forwarding the data to
the central server, which automatically
uploads air pollution data to the governments website (www.pollution.gov.np).
The three stations came into operation
from last week, Shankar Prasad Paudel,
senior divisional chemist at the department, told The Himalayan Times. After
successfully operating them, we are going to collecting gas data from the stations.
He said the three stations would also
measure concentration of four types of
air pollutant gases carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ozone
in the air.
Currently, the stations are measuring
dust particles in pm10, pm 2.5 and pm1;
total suspended particles; wind speed;
wind direction, air temperature; and
relative humidity.
Though air pollution monitoring in Nepal

began in 2002, no stations were opera-

try with the help of International Centre

tional since 2009. The Danish govern-

for Integrated Mountain Development

ment had installed seven air quality sta-

and Kathmandu Sustainable Urban

tions in the Valley in 2002. Five of these

Transport Project.

stations were set up in Machchegaun,


Kirtipur, Patan, Putalisadak, and Bhakta-

According to the Environment Perform-

pur each, and two in Thamel.

ance Index 2016 that quantifies the environmental performance of states poli-

After the stations were handed over to

cies, Nepal ranks 149 among 180 coun-

the government in 2008, the government tries, and 177 in air quality.
entrusted Environment and Public Health
Organisation with operating them. How- While cities around the world, including
ever, a misunderstanding between the

neighboring countries, have taken strin-

government and ENPHO led to closure

gent actions to improve air quality, Ne-

of the stations in 2009.

pal has yet to do so.

According to the department, six additional stations will be installed in Khumaltar, Machchhegaun, Teku, Bhaktapur,
Chandragiri and Kapan or Maharajgunj.
The department is in the process of installing 56 stations throughout the coun-

Source:www.thehimalayantimes.co
m, November 30, 2016

PAGE

Private Vehicles Registration Doubles in One Year


Registration of private four-wheelers in of mass transportation is not sufficient.

Another challenge of growing number

Bagmati Zone, with already congested

That is one of the contributing factors

of vehicles, according to him, is the

roads, has doubled in one year, con-

for the increase in private vehicles,

rising number of road accidents. Stating

tributing significantly to traffic woes of

said Pandey.

that road accidents is one of the major

the cities.

factors leading to deaths, Pandey said


According to him, other factors, such

existing laws and policies should be

During the fiscal year 2014/15, 9,945

as rise in purchasing capacity and in-

amended and made more sterner and

private four-wheelers were registered

crease in living standards, have also

effective.

at Bagmati Zone while a total of 21,647 contributed significantly to the increase


were added on the city roads in the

in the number of private vehicles.

fiscal year 2015/016, indicating a rise of


11,702 vehicles in just a year.

We are holding discussions with


stakeholders to amend the Transport

Nowadays, private vehicles are not

Management Act 1993, he said.

just luxurious goods, but have become


The data maintained by the Depart-

necessity. Rise in the number brings

Pandey added that the government has

ment of Transport Management

various challenges for us. The obvious

brought various plans and policies to

(DoTM) also revealed that 1,803 pri-

one is efficient traffic management.

encourage the use of public transporta-

vate vehicles, including cars, jeeps and

tion over private ones.

vans, are registered in an average every Not just four-wheelers, the number of
month in Bagmati Zone alone.

two-wheelers in Bagmati Zone and

Firstly, we are striving to deter trans-

across the country has been on the rise port syndicates and make public vehiRegistration of private four-wheelers

as well. According to the data, number

cles more reliable. Mass transportation

has also doubled in one year across the of registration of motorcycles in Bag-

has been encouraged. Companies such

country, not just in Bagmati Zone. Ac-

mati Zone is 55,844 and 64,927 in the

as Sajha Yatayat promoting mass trans-

cording to the data, a total of 13,560

fiscal years 2014/015 and 2015/016

portation have extended their opera-

private four-wheelers were registered

respectively.

tion to other districts as well. All of

in 2014/015 across the country. The

these are positive signs.

number doubled in 2015/016, with the

Likewise, the registration of two-

registration of 28,361 new ones.

wheelers nationwide was counted at


196,383 and 267,439 in 2014/015 and

Stating that the frequent increase in the 2015/016 respectively.


number of private vehicles is a matter
of concern, Dr Rok Raj Pandey,

Rise in the number of private vehicles

spokesperson of the DoTM, admitted

has made traffic management very diffi-

that inefficient public vehicles is one of

cult. Various road widening campaigns

the factors responsible for the increase of the government have bore little fruit
in private four-wheelers.

to minimize traffic snarls as traffic volumes continue to grow, Pandey clari-

General public are not able to rely on


public transportation and the number

fied.

Source: www.myrepublica.com,
4th November, 2016

Indian Government Declares Delhi Air Pollution an Emergency


The Indian government has declared se-

more than 16 times the safe limit of 60.

the city.

vere levels of toxic air pollution in Delhi


an emergency situation as administra-

On Sunday, Delhis chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal has called on neighbouring

tors announce a plan to temporarily shut Kejriwal, announced emergency meas-

states to enforce laws against burning

construction sites and a coal-fired power ures aimed at protecting residents, in-

agricultural waste.

station to bring the situation under con-

cluding a five-day ban on construction

trol.

and demolition, thought to be a major

Around this time each year, hundreds of

contributor to pollution levels.

thousands of farmers in Haryana and

Schools in the capital will be closed for

Punjab set their fields on fire to dispose

three days and traffic may be rationed,

Bulldozers are to be used to put out fires of crop remnants, sending smoke billow-

following six days of heavy smog and

at the Bhalswa landfill, which constantly

concentrations of harmful particles so

smoulders.

high they cannot be measured by most


air quality instruments.
The level of PM2.5 pollutants, which are

ing across Indias northern plains.


The Delhi government is preparing to

Kejriwal said: People should stay home

reintroduce a temporary scheme to only

as much as they can [and] work from

allow cars to drive on odd or even

home.

days depending on the last digit of their

the most harmful because they can reach

registration numbers.

deep into the lungs and breach

A coal-fired power station in Badarpur,

the blood-brain barrier, have reached at

south-east Delhi, will stop operating for

least 999 in parts of the city this week,

10 days, along with diesel generators in

Source: www.theguardian.com, 6th


November, 2016

Good Reads
1.
2.
3.

The City chokes, Prashanta Khanal , The Kathmandu Post, 17th November, 2016
The Capital Chokes, Ishwar Rauniyar, Myrepublica, 24th November, 2016
Air Pollution Taking a Steep Toll on Kathmandu Residents, Slok Gyawalii, Eath Island Journal, 28th November, 2016

Prepared by: Jyoti Prajapati| Edited by: Rassu Manandhar


Clean Air Network Nepal (CANN) is a network of organizations and professionals involved in air quality management in Nepal. The goal of CANN is to increase the ability of professionals and other interested stakeholders to effectively address the
problems of air pollution in Nepal. We encourage you to join hands with us to expand our campaign for clean and better Air.
CANN is a country network of Clean Air Asia and hosted by Clean Energy Nepal. For more information: www.cen.org.np;
www.cleanairinitiative.org
To contribute articles, news items, or event announcements for the next issue, send an email with the complete details and URL source to
info@cen.org.np or rassu@cen.org.np

Secretariat: Clean Energy Nepal


POB No: 24581, Pragati path, Talchikhel, Lalitpur, Nepal
Email: info@cen.org.np | Web: www.cen.org.np
Tel: 977-1 5538660

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