The selling and consumption of tobacco products have been banned in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) from today.

KMC, Health Department Chief Ram Prasad Poudel, said a complete ban has been imposed on the sale of tobacco products in all the 32 wards of the metropolis.

According to him, the selling, storage and consumption of tobacco products packed in plastics have been completely prohibited within KMC from today.

The banned tobacco products include raw tobacco, chewing tobacco, bidi, tambakhu, sulpha, gutkha, panparag, packaged in plastic pouches.

The KMC had on November 28 issued a public notice about this ban.

The KMC Police will seize such products if found selling them. "We are on a campaign of making Kathmandu a healthy city. We have decided to ban the storage, selling and consumption of tobacco products harmful to people's health and the environment, coinciding with the 29th KMC Day," said the KMC Health Department Chief Poudel.

He said this provision is included in Clause 42 of the Public Health Act the KMC issued in 2080 BS. The provision in the Act is being strictly implemented in a bid to reduce the adverse effects the use of tobacco products is having on individual health.

Tobacco control is the first condition for improving the public health and environment in the city. 

It has been learnt that the KMC is preparing to implement a program to control hukka in the second phase.