Nepal’s Kathmandu ranks 5th in Pollution Index 2017.
We are now in the final days of the industrial age… KATHMANDU: Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu has ranked 5th in Pollution Index 2017 mid-year as published by the Numbeo.com recently.
The cities were listed on the basis of air pollution and then the water pollution/accessibility followed by other pollution types.
According to the Department of Environment of Nepal, the particulate matter (PM 2.5) of Ratnapark is 107 µg/m³ marking Kathmandu as one of the unhealthy cities to live in.
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 plants among others.
The government’s failure to replace the old and outdated vehicles plying on the roads of the city have also added air pollution in Kathmandu.
The renewed hopes of making Kathmandu a better place to live after the local level elections was confined to the public stunt of mayor and deputy mayor brooming the streets in Kathmandu.
The KMC needs to do more and come up with more strategies, including installation of dustbins around the city to collect disposable and non disposable products to preserve, clean and safeguard the air quality of the Kathmandu.
It has been learned that there is surge in the number of respiratory related diseases in the valley due to air pollution.

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.