A recent World Bank report that says black emission from two-strokc auto-rickshaw and tempo costs the country an annual loss of nearly 60 crore taka draws our attention once again to the ominous proportion air pollution in the urban areas, particularly in the capital city, has assumed. If the pollution level, the report goes on. could be lowered to that in other developing countries of the world, it would save 15,000 lives, and spare some 65 lakh people from serious ailment and 85 lakh more from minor ones. •

Use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been widely favoured as a way of reducing air pollution, given the fact that withdrawal of two-stroke engines from the road or their conversion into four-stroke ones cannot be done overnight. But the World Bank report sets forth another potent yet unheeded solution - proper maintenance and use of high quality lubricants at a prescribed rate for the two-stroke engines. We feel the World Bank prescription can work wonders in the short term. In the first place, it could bring about substantial reduction of black emission, thereby improving (he air quality In the urban areas. On the other hand, it would certainly buy some time for research and development towards finding replacement of the two-stroke autorickshaw and tempo.

Although proven in the developed countries like Japan, in our context ensuring regulated use of lubricant and proper maintenance of the two-stroke engines could prove somewhat challenging. Our principal Inadequacy is on the vigilance Iront that has allowed unhindered plying of flawed, unregistered and unlicensed vehicles.

That should not, however, discourage in any way the efforts invested in economical adaptation of two-stroke engines to consume CNG and LPG. The bottom-line is. air pollution in the urban areas has to be tackled in the right earnest. We know the source of lead emission and should devise means to eliminate it.

The people at the helm have their work cut out: enforce ban on leaded petrol, phase out two-stroke auto-rickshaw and tempo and, crucially, enhance vigilance network so that any violation in this regard is promptly detected and dealt with. Failure here means loss of lives, lowered productivity and eventually retarded nation and economy.