While Kathmandu was ranked fifth in the Global Pollution Index 2017 mid-year survey, the continuous efforts of Kathmandu Metropolitan Traffic Police (KMTP) to ban honking in the city’s traffic turned positive for the country’s development portfolio on a global level.

KMTP’s regulations over sounding of horns in traffic, through fine collection beginning from April 2017, not only transformed Kathmandu into a horn-free city, but also proved the country’s strength in public-policy collaboration.

“In all of South Asia, this is one of the most successful initiatives by the traffic police. This is our pride,” says Madhu Sudan Silwal, a senior police officer who spent most of his time regulating traffic on Kathmandu’s roads as part of duty.

Elated at the transformation, Mingmar Lama, the Chief of KMTP when the horn ban initiative was introduced, says, “I wanted drivers in Kathmandu Valley to be civilized. Now if you blow the horn, people will look at you, just like in a developed country, as if you were uncivilized.”

The ban was first rolled out in Kathmandu in April 2017 marking the start of new Nepali year, and is currently being tested across other cities of the country.

If everything goes as planned, the authorities expect Nepal to become horn-free very soon.

As a country with the least-developed status, Nepal has been striving at its best to prove on a global scale, and the horn ban policy appears as an opportunity for the country.

The Kathmandu Traffic Police feel the horn ban policy is a mark of Nepali society’s sophistication.

“Now all the foreigners feel Nepal’s people are good,” says Sarbendra Khanal, the current Chief of Kathmandu Traffic Police.

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