Details sought of action taken to check air pollution.
Kathmandu, April 11 The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has directed district coordination committees, metropolitan cities and municipalities of Kathmandu Valley to provide it with details of activities being undertaken to guarantee people’s right to live in a clean environment.
“All local levels are requested to explain in writing to the ministry as soon as possible what they have been doing to control pollution and protect human rights in accordance with the constitution and other laws in force while carrying out development activities in their jurisdiction,” read a letter written by Environment Management Section of the ministry yesterday.
Kathmandu has been dubbed as the seventh most polluted city in the world, thanks to environmental pollution.
Numbeo recently made public the pollution levels ranking of 290 cities around the world.
With pollution index 97.73, Kathmandu featured among the top ten along with Kabul, Afghanistan (103.92); Accra, Ghana (102.61); Tetovo, Macedonia (98.09); Faridabad, India (96.58); Cairo, Egypt (96.28) and Dhaka, Bangladesh (95.91); Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (95.34); Karachi, Pakistan (95.29) and Ghaziabad, India (95.27).
The cities were listed on the basis of air pollution and water pollution/accessibility followed by other pollution types.
PM 2.5 indicates the matter present in the air that are 2.5 microns or below.
These particles include dust, coal particles exited from power plants and home heating, car exhaust, and pollen from plants among others.
A version of this article appears in print on April 12, 2017 of The Himalayan Times.