Kathmandu, Feb. 20 -- The environment department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office has started slapping fines on drivers of polluting vehicles for ignoring warnings from the city office to carry out timely maintenance of their vehicle's engines.

Officials warn that they will be forced to enforce more stringent actions, which could be a restriction to operating polluting vehicles on streets if drivers or vehicle owners keep flouting the municipal warning.

"We have started charging the drivers whose vehicles have failed emissions tests and have been running without carrying out engine maintenance Rs1,000 fines through traffic police," said Jagatman Shrestha, traffic expert adviser at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office. "This i...