September 5, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani26,1423

DHAKA, Sept 4: More than 15,000 two-stroke auto-rickshaw and tempos went off the Dhaka streets on Sunday, while the remaining 5,500 will stop plying the metropolitan streets by the first of January next year.

The government of Begum Khaleda Zia announced in March this year a ban on the two-stroke auto-rickshaws, one of the major sources of air and sound pollution in Dhaka.

There are over 2,000 auto-rickshaws and tempos in the Bangladesh capital.