TEHRAN — The deputy chief of the Department of Environment has voiced his objection to the newly approved vehicle inspection law mandating the reduction of five-year interval for vehicle inspection to four years.

While one of the articles of the proposed clean air bill has clearly asked for the reduction of five-year interval for vehicle inspection to two years, Majlis (Iranian parliament) passed the article by decreasing the interval from five years to four years on Tuesday.

“It was previously decided to decrease the interval to two years for the cars since their production but eventually Majlis decided to reduce the interval to four years instead,” ISNA news agency quoted Sa’eed Motesaddi as saying.

The interval is also reduced to one year for vehicles used for public transportation and government-owned or -leased vehicles, Motesaddi added.

Typically vehicles are mandated to undergo the procedure once a year worldwide, he highlighted, stating, “We conform to the law but still strive to reduce the interval in Iran as well.”

“We are also trying to discipline the inspection system more effectively as currently some 440 nationally integrated vehicle inspection centers are operational across Iran,” he said, adding, all car owners are also required to pass inspection before selling their cars.

On October 23, 2016, Majlis passed general outlines of the clean air bill which could greatly help deal with sources of air pollution once it comes into force. However the bill is still being discussed and weighed up in the parliament commission for agriculture, water and natural resources to resolve some certain ambiguities.

As per the bill the Department of Environment is tasked with imposing bans and limitations at the time of air pollution in the country and assigned to prepare a draft of air pollution crisis management in association with the Police department, and ministries of health, industry, mine and trade within six months and gain approval from the cabinet.

Choking air pollution striking metropolises of Iran every now and then are getting more difficult to deal with gradually. The predicament is blamed on numerous factors namely clunkers, sand mines, sand and dust storms originating from dried up wetlands, pollutant industries, carburetor motorcycles, etc.

Nonetheless, regulations such as increasing public transportation, addressing sand storms, setting high standards for fuel quality, imposing green tax and spending them on mitigating air pollution, and being explicit about the rules are believed to help curbing the problem of air pollution.

MQ/MG