VETTF Is Intensifying Roadside Emission Raids This Month — Will It Fix Anything?

The Vehicle Emission Test Trust Fund says it's stepping up roadside raids this month, pulling vehicles over for spot checks on black smoke and VET certificates, after a rise in vehicle-related air pollution. Anyone who's sat behind a smoking bus or a tired lorry on a Colombo road knows the problem is real — but plenty of drivers say the VET centres themselves are the weak link, handing out passes for a few extra rupees without properly checking the exhaust. One side says random roadside stops are the only real fix, since a vehicle can be tuned to scrape through the annual test and smoke like a chimney the rest of the year. The other side says this just hassles ordinary owners stuck in traffic jams while the worst offenders — ancient buses, overloaded lorries, unregistered three-wheelers — keep running because taking them off the road would wreck someone's daily commute. Have you ever had your VET certificate questioned at a roadside stop, or watched an obviously smoking vehicle sail through the yearly test anyway? Where should enforcement actually focus? ඔබේ වාහනයේ VET සහතිකය පාර මැද චෙක් කළාද? ඒක හරියට වැඩ කරනවද කියලා ඔබ හිතන්නේ?