458 vehicles have been tested in Tatarstan since June 1 as part of Operation Clean Air in support of the national Ecology project
458 vehicles have been inspected by specialists of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic since the beginning of Operation Clean Air. The raids have been going on since June 1 together with the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, and since 2024 - with the interregional territorial directorate of Rostransnadzor for the Volga Federal District.
Today, another such raid took place at the Malinovka checkpoint in the Verkhneuslonsky district. Employees of the Ministry of Ecology checked the smokiness of trucks.
As part of the operation, environmentalists identified vehicles whose exhaust gases exceeded the standards for pollutants. With the help of a gas analyzer, heavy-duty vehicles were checked, as well as intercity buses. No serious violations were detected.
According to experts, in recent years there has been a tendency in the republic to reduce the number of cars with a high content of pollutants in exhaust gases.
"Based on the results of the operation, I can say that since 1994 (over 30 years), the share of vehicles with a high content of pollutants in exhaust gas emissions has decreased 10 times (approx. from 27.5% in 1994 to 2.7% in 2023). This is due to the improvement of the quality of motor fuel, the replacement of the old fleet of cars with new ones of a more environmentally friendly class. So over the past 5 years, the total number of vehicles of environmental class 4 and above has increased by 31.2%, and the number of vehicles of low environmental classes has decreased by almost 15% annually, over the past 5 years we have recorded a decrease of 40.7%," said Nikita Maslov, Head of the Atmospheric Air Protection Department of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Tatarstan.
It should be recalled that since 2016, all vehicles used for the transportation of passengers and luggage by road along regular transportation routes in Tatarstan must comply with environmental class 4 and higher.
It is worth noting that the joint operation "Clean Air" is an operational and preventive measure to monitor compliance with standards for the content of pollutants in vehicle exhaust emissions. The operation has been taking place annually in Tatarstan in the summer since 1983. In 2024, "Clean Air" is already being held for the 42nd time. It started on June 1 and will last until September 30 (4 months). Gasoline, diesel and gas-powered vehicles (cars, trucks and buses) are being tested.
The main purpose of the operation is to prevent the negative impact of vehicles on the state of atmospheric air.
Last year, the operation was carried out in 13 municipal districts — at the Malinovka posts near Kazan, Tula-1 in Naberezhnye Chelny and on highways in the regions of Tatarstan.
In 2023, 6886 vehicles were tested (87% passenger cars, 7% trucks, 6% buses; 81% gasoline, 13% diesel, 6% gas-powered), 184 automachines were found to exceed toxicity standards, which amounted to 2.7% of the total number of vehicles tested. The most environmentally friendly is gas–powered vehicles (exceeding 1.9%). The largest percentage of vehicles with excess is diesel–powered trucks (6.4% and 5.3%, respectively).
Warnings were issued to vehicle owners, fines were issued in some cases, and recommendations were made to visit service stations to troubleshoot the exhaust system.
This year, 458 vehicles were checked (7.2% of the plan) for the period from June 1 to June 20: These are 330 passenger cars (72.1%), 67 trucks (14.6%), 61 buses (13.3%). In total, 17 vehicles were found to have excess, which is 3.7%.
As of June 20, 233 vehicles were checked in the area of activity of the Central Territorial Administration, 4 vehicles were found to have exceedances, which is 1.7% of the checked vehicles.