The head of the Health Department, Ram Prasad Poudel, assured The Kathmandu Post, that a total ban has been imposed on the sale of tobacco products in the 32 districts of the metropolis.

According to the authorities, from Wednesday, raw tobacco, chewing tobacco, products such as bidi, tambakhu, sulfa, gutkha and panparag, and those packaged in plastic and pouches are illegal.

The notification was issued last Nov. 28 through public notice, he recalled.

Poudel said Kathmandu police will confiscate such products from those who try to violate the provision.

We are on a campaign to make Kathmandu a healthy city and have decided to ban the storage, sale and use of tobacco-based products harmful to people’s health and the environment, Poudel said.

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