Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has relaunched enforcement efforts on its longstanding ban covering smoking (and chewing tobacco) in public spaces, which was weakly applied under earlier legislation. As the fiscal year 2024–25 began, the mayor’s office and city council approved reactivation of the ban, now backed by an awareness campaign and a clearly defined penalty structure. Starting August 17, 2025, anyone caught smoking in public places—from streets to public transport—is subject to a fine of NPR 500 (around USD 3.70) per offence.
The renewed push aims to address compliance gaps identified in previous years, when fines rarely exceeded nominal amounts and enforcement was sporadic. Past notices dating to 2022 and 2019 referenced fines ranging from NPR 100 to NPR 100,000, but implementation had been lax. Reports confirm police issuing only token numbers of fines even after earlier reauthorizations of the ban, highlighting a persistent enforcement challenge. This strengthened regime ties into broader national tobacco control reforms—including Nepal’s shift to mandating 100% pictorial health warnings across all tobacco product packaging effective August 17, 2025.
