PESHAWAR, Nov 18: The NWFP government's policy to gradually phase out environmentally harmful auto-rickshaws driven with two-stroke engines failed to achieve desired results because of official apathy , information gathered from official circles revealed.

According to official sources, the policy remained to be implemented in totality even after two years of its formulation.

It had been put in place more than two years ago by the then government in the province with the prime objective of improving the state of environment in several parts of the province.

Officials of the NWFP Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when contacted, said that auto-rickshaws driven with two-stroke engines were a major source of air and noise pollution particularly in urban centres of the province.

"Toxic emissions produced by vehicles driven with two-stroke engines cause adverse effects on human lungs and brain," said an environmental expert.

The move, said the sources, on the part of the last provincial government had been necessitated to mitigate negative effects of the tri-wheelers on the environment, which, according to official environmental experts, had deteriorated to an alarming proportion in the urban centres of the province.

However, the policy, said officials of the agencies concerned and departments of the province, could not be implemented chiefly due to apathy on the part of official decision makers and because of lack of political will on the part of the sitting provincial government.

"The policy did not materialize, hence, objectives laid down under it could not be fulfilled," said an official of the EPA.

The previous government, officials said, had underlined a two-pronged policy to put an end to the use of tri-wheelers driven by environmentally unfriendly two-stroke engines, which, environmental experts say, produce poisonous carbon monoxide gas because of burning of mobil oil as fuel with petrol.

The policy envisaged gradual replacement of tri-wheelers driven by two-stroke engines with auto-rickshaws involving four stroke engines, which are considered to be environmentally safe.

Besides, it emphasized making the owners of auto-rickshaws involving two stroke engines to use compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel, instead of petrol, by installing specially designed kits in their vehicles.

In addition to that the previous government had also banned the registration of tri-wheelers with two stroke engines in Peshawar and Swat - the two urban centres of the province involving the highest concentration of auto-rickshaws.

According to information, the government could not achieve the desired results even though some of its agencies made 'half-hearted' attempts to achieve some of the objectives of the previous government's policy on the subject.

The policy to encourage installation of CNG kits in tri-wheelers did not work as except for the 20 auto-rickshaws which were fitted with CNG kits under a project of the government, owners of rickshaws did not opt to use compressed natural gas as fuel.

Similarly, the ban on the registration of tri-wheelers with two stroke engines in Peshawar and Swat also did not help the government to get the desired results because of the mushroom growth of specially designed Ching Chee rickshaws driven by motorbikes with two stroke engines.