What about the black smoke that lorries and buses puff out?

By S. Weerasinghe, Nikape, Dehiwala

The Ministry of Environment has introduced a tax on motorcars and motorcycles to check exhaust emissions from vehicles before renewing revenue licences. This is a big joke, as the biggest culprits, the lorries and buses, which discharge clouds of black smoke that keep raising air pollution levels, are exempt from the test.

Petrol vehicles (other than two-stroke vehicles) give off minimal, barely visible, exhaust fumes. Some 95 percent of the cars and motorcycles on our roads belong to this category. It is a known fact that 50 percent of road vehicles are motorcycles. The motorcycle is the poor man’s vehicle. One can imagine the amount of taxes that will be collected from these poor motorcyclists and the car owners.

Exhaust fumes polluting the area

I humbly request the President to intervene in this matter and make a reverse order and insist that buses, lorries and three-wheelers undergo these emission tests. It is these vehicles that are seriously polluting the environment. If these vehicles are not tested for exhaust fumes, the emission test will turn out to be an exercise in punishing car and motorcycle owners.

The Ministry concerned has also introduced various taxes on cell phones, towers, and so on. Is this particular ministry trying to embarrass the government by introducing these taxes? Those tall antenna towers help to deflect and absorb deadly lightning bolts that can cause death and destruction. The presence of these towers prevents coconut trees from getting hit by lightning.

There is a lot of urgent environment-related work across the country that is the responsibility of this Ministry, which cannot afford to spend its time focusing on taxes. Sand is being removed daily by the lorryload from our rivers. Trees are being indiscriminately and illicitly cut by the hundreds in our jungles. Waste water from factories and others is being drained into our rivers and other water sources. People are dumping garbage on the roadside.

And this Ministry is doing absolutely nothing to check these malpractices. All it does is introduce taxes. Whatever taxes this Ministry imposes on cell phone companies will ultimately be borne by the poor consumer.

The cost of living is so high that living has turned into a major problem. All food items have gone up tenfold since this government came into power. Such price hikes are unbearable to the poor and the middle class. It appears that the Minister of Environment and his colleagues are unaware of all these hardships the people face.