The Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) has warned that vehicles whose owners ignore maintenance orders issued for excessive smoke emissions will be blacklisted from revenue licence renewals and other documentation.
Owners who skip follow-up inspections after being flagged could face significant difficulties in obtaining the annual revenue licence, the department said, framing black-smoke emissions as both a vehicle defect and an environmental hazard. Officials urged owners to carry out proper maintenance, citing rising vehicle-related air pollution in recent months.
A special roadside emission inspection programme is currently running in the Kandy District from May 6 to 8 with Sri Lanka Police support. Mobile emission testing units have been deployed in Getambe and Katugastota, where authorities are issuing immediate maintenance orders to vehicles emitting excessive smoke.
The Vehicle Emission Test Trust Fund (VETTF) said roadside enforcement will be intensified from this month onwards. Inspections had slowed temporarily following administrative changes that integrated the trust fund as a direct unit under the DMT, the department added.
The DMT’s blacklist warning escalates earlier signal-only enforcement, including a Police WhatsApp-based public reporting drive against black-smoke vehicles, and aligns with the broader Clean Sri Lanka 2026 action plan that has put air-quality and waste targets on the cabinet agenda.
Source: Newswire.
