Through this move, Nepal aims to control pollution, ease traffic movement and address other concerns caused by the old and poorly-maintained vehicles, to ensure a clean environment.

As part of the measures, the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has already issued orders to seize the vehicles falling under this category and cancel the driving licenses and permits of the vehicle owners.

“Traffic police will seize old vehicles seen plying the roads. DoTM has already informed traffic police to seize the license of drivers behind the wheel of such vehicles and impound the vehicles,” informed DoTM Director General Rupnarayan Bhattrai.

A decision in this regard roots back to January 2015.

Though the Cabinet called for a similar policy suggesting ban on old vehicles in February 2017 within the Kathmandu Valley, the rule did not see its real implementation owing to various reasons.

However, DoTM vows to a full-fledged enforcement this time.

“Maybe they are being used outside the Valley, but this time around we will enforce stringent measures all over the country,” adds Bhattarai.

According to the DoTM estimates, there are around 10,000 such vehicles across the country with 5,500 in Kathmandu alone.

Transport Owners Disagree

Various transport owners operating across the country feel that the new decision will hurt their business badly.

Terming this as unscientific, the transport associations and operators are calling for a roll-back of this decision.

Condemning the rule, Saroj Sitaula, General Secretary of the Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE), said the new decision lacks proper planning and will affect the public owning second-hand vehicles.

“We were not consulted before the authorities took the decision. They don’t have any plan on what to do with the vehicles,” says Dharma Rimal, another FNNTE official.

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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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