MANGALURU: Regional Transport Office (RTO), Mangaluru in association with city based APD Foundation has launched new campaign #StopSmokyVehicles to put a cap on smoke emitting and polluting vehicles in its jurisdiction. The programme will continue for a month and cover entire city and include Mulki, Moodbidri and other peripheral areas. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) will also collaborate with RTO in this campaign.The objective of #StopSmokyVehicles campaign is to highlight the importance of maintaining vehicles in good and non-polluting conditions. It aims to stop unmaintained and smoke emitting vehicles from plying on the road polluting the environment and damaging human health and provide a platform to showcase that citizens of Mangaluru do care about its people and the environment,” said John Misquith, in-charge Regional Transport Officer, Mangaluru.“As part of this campaign RTO Mangaluru in association with KSPCB will be undertaking spot inspection of vehicles for pollution levels. Charge sheets will be filed against owners of polluting vehicles and we will also be imposing fines on offending parties. Hence the public is informed to keep their vehicles in good condition and cooperate,” Misquith said, adding the RTO officers on routine rounds will also inspect vehicles for pollution under control certificate.APD Foundation will conceptualize, plan, coordinate and execute awareness and research oriented aspects of the campaign. This includes conducting continuous educational video sessions at RTO Office for benefit of the citizens visiting the office to highlight the impact of air pollution and motivate them to maintain their vehicles in good condition. Street plays and road shows will be enacted at various public venues around the city.APD Foundation, under its ‘Shuddha Gaali’ programme will undertake health impact assessment of air pollution on outdoor workers like street vendors and road side shop keepers. Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) will be done on this target group using portable PFT machines. Data will be collected from an estimated sample size of about 400 citizens who work alongside roads having dense traffic. This data will be further analyzed by a team of trained pulmonologists.RTO Mangaluru will release the report during a function in the first week of December, Abdullah A Rehman, project manager, APD, said. Based on previous studies undertaken by APD Foundation, Abdullah said every Manglurean produces an average of 787.85 Kg Carbon Dioxide per year. In all, 26.3% traffic police personnel in Mangaluru have restrictive lung capacity because of air pollution from vehicles, Abdullah said, referring to the study.Baikampady, Lalbagh, PVS Junction, Attavar, Bejai, Bunder, Central Market, Bunts Hostel areas have the highest pollutant contents in the air in Mangaluru. Just as city traffic police personnel, 19% of the rickshaw drivers in Mangaluru suffer from lung problems.It is the small subset of 10% of the smoke emitting vehicles that contribute maximum to air pollution by vehicles, he said, adding the above campaign will strive to address these pollution causing issues.

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