A year after the government threw out 640 smoke-belching diesel three-wheelers from the streets of Kathmandu, it has decided on a blanket ban on all polluting vehicles. The ban is to take effect in all of Nepal's 58 municipalities. All vehicles made before 1980, and three-wheelers running on petrol or liquefied petroleum gas are to go when the decision becomes effective 15 November next year. The government notice also bans diesel tempos from Nepal effective August 2001.

Of roughly 260,000 registered vehicles in Nepal, half are two-wheelers and of the remaining 130,000, some 60 percent ply on the streets of the Kathmandu Valley. "We've begun work to see how many vehicles will be affected by the new law," Krishna Murari Sharma, Director General of the Department of Transport Management told us.

The Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) says work on the ban had been underway for some time now, and, according to Sher Jung Karki, an official at the legal section, is aimed primarily at checking pollution. "We have several technical committee studies saying it's the old vehicles and their numbers that cause most of the air pollution." Last year MOPE threw out 640 diesel-run three wheelers from the streets but allowed their owners to import 15-seater vans for public transport by mandating VAT exemption and just one percent customs duty, as opposed to the normal 130 percent. "There are no financial incentives this time," says Karki.