 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Iran Restricts Car Use In Smoke-Choked Capital
Tehran (AFP) Dec 10, 2005 Residents of the smog-choked Iranian capital will have the use of their cars restricted in the coming week in a bid to decrease the pollution which has shut the city down in the past days, police said Saturday. Effective Sunday through to next Thursday, drivers will only be able to use their cars in a vast area of central Tehran on odd or even days according to the last figure on the number plate, Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said on state television. Cars with an odd number plate will be allowed on Sunday in the expanded restricted area, where most businesses and offices are located. Officials hope this will help clear a hideous blanket of brown-yellow haze -- denser than usual this week due to a total lack of wind. Schools in the urban sprawl of 10 million people have been shut down since Tuesday while office workers were told to stay indoors for two days. Officials also said the aging rundown cars that spew more poisonous gases into the air will be banned from even appearing in the city. Many of the two million plus vehicles in the city are more than 20 years old and guzzle cheap subsidised petrol -- which costs a paltry nine US cents a litre, or 34 cents a gallon -- at an alarming rate. Private car ownership has also exploded and the public transport system does not provide adequate coverage to many parts of Tehran. Pollution alerts are becoming increasingly common in the city, with air quality deemed unhealthy for at least 100 days of the year. Complaints of asthma, allergies and respiratory ailments are also on the rise. The odd-even ban has been applied for short periods in the past years, but failed as the residents complained about the impracticality of such an scheme.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
Toxin Level In Chinese River Still Unsafe
Beijing (AFP) Jan 11, 2006Levels of a cancer-causing chemical found in a Chinese river are still above safety standards after a spill last week, despite earlier official reassurances, state media reported Wednesday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
