A “Day Without a Vehicle” campaign was supported by all fellow workers of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan

A “Day Without a Vehicle” campaign is held today in the Republic of Tatarstan. Officially it is celebrated on September 22.OntheinitiativeoftheMinistryofEcologyofthe Republic of Tatarstan it has been prolonged forone more day, since on Saturdaythe traffic flow naturally decreases. The campaign was supported by the state authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan, municipalities, heads of companies and organizations. All fellow workers of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan have been using public transportation today. The parking lot for fellow workers is closed today. As it was noted by the Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan Artem Sidorov, today’s state of the air basin of the Republic of Tatarstan raises rather serious fears. “Professionalecologists, publicandstateauthoritiesare having these fears, emphasized the Minister.Itshouldbenotedthatweareabletopreservestabilityofthelevelofairpollutionfromstationarysources (plants), while there is a tendency of enhancement of air pollution by motor vehicles. –A number of programs are implemented in Tatarstan in order to deal with this problem. Inparticular, it means transfer of motor vehicles to natural gas, the use whereof allows to decreasetotal exhausts of pollutantswith waste gases of vehicles by more than 2.5 times. The State program of the Republic of Tatarstan “Development of the market of gas-engine fuel in the Republic of Tatarstan for2013-2023” has been approved of this year by the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers.Programimplementationpresupposesacomplexofseriousevents related to making amendments to the legislative framework and creation of the relevant infrastructure. The ultimate aim envisages transfer of both public and private motor vehicles to gas-engine fuel.
           Inordertodecreaseexhaustsofpollutantsfrommotorvehiclesintotheair,the Ministry annually holds the “Clean air” campaign from May until October in cooperation with theAdministration of the State Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan. Startingfrom 2012,theworkonimplementationofgas vapor recovery installations at fuel filling stations located in large cities of the Republic of Tatarstan is being donein the Republic. Today, headsofmunicipalestablishmentsofKazan, Nizhnekamsk, Almetyevsk, and Naberezhnye Chelny in cooperation with facilities engaged in supplies of oil products conduct work on development and coordination ofscheduled plans for equipment of all fuel filling stations located on the territory of the indicated cities with the systems oftrapping and recovery of motor fuel vapors during 2013-2015. Landscaping and beautification of the territories of cities in the Republic play an important role in enhancement of the ecological situation of the Republic of Tatarstan.To that extent, a long-term project “Green record” was launched lastyearin Kazan, and 48 thousand trees were planted in autumn 2012 in the framework of this project. This year it is planned to plant 50 thousand plants.
Speakingofourcampaign, itisclear that we won’t be able to considerably change the quality of our air in one day. Themainaim, ofcourse, liesintheneedtoattractpublicattention, to changealittlebitthemindsetofpeople, and to look at this problem differently,meaning that, technically, anyone of us can make even small contribution to enhancement of the state of our air. Forexample, onevehicleweeklycombuststhe same amount of oxygen that four its passengers will need per year. Thisinformationmakesusthink”,noted the Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan, Artem Sidorov.

Press Service of the Ministry