PESHAWAR, March 25: The Environmental Protection Agency will introduce CNG-driven rickshaws to check the growing air pollution in Peshawar and other parts of the province, officials said.

The sources said that compressed natural gas kits would be installed in 20 rickshaws of two-stroke engines under a project to be supervised by the provincial EPA.

The project, involving an initial investment of over Rs700,000, aims to phase out the two-stroke engine rickshaws to control the air pollution and the health problems caused by it.

The project would be launched on an experimental basis and if it yielded desired results then the rickshaw-owners would be encouraged to switch over to CNG fuel.

A senior official said the rickshaw-owners and drivers were opposed to conversion of their vehicles into CNG. Under the project, he added, the authorities concerned would be looking into their apprehensions.

The sources said that doing away with the two-stroke engine rickshaws had become all the more essential to control rising air pollution which had attained serious proportions in the provincial capital.

"We have two choices: either we prohibit the use of two-stroke engine rickshaws or switch them over to CNG," said an official of the provincial government.

The sources pointed out that the import of two-stroke engine rickshaws was not allowed in line with the Environmental Protection Act, 1997. But, they said, the locally-made rickshaws of two-stroke engines were still being registered by the excise and taxation department.

"EPA can hardly do anything to control the increasing number of three-wheelers in Peshawar, the responsibility for which rests with the registration authorities," said an EPA official.

The excise and taxation department has also registered numerous specially designed auto-rickshaws of single stroke engine, commonly known as Ching-chee. An expert on urban development apprehended that the pollution-related problems would multiply in a couple of years when Ching-chee would get older and add to hazardous emissions.