As Tihar approaches, the number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley has increased sharply.

Most of the citizens who were residing in the valley for employment, business, study and other personal reasons have now started returning to their birthplaces, according to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office. 

Traffic Police Office spokesperson and Superintendent of Police Naresh Raj Subedi informed that with the start of the Tihar festivities, the number of passengers leaving the valley has increased at the main checkpoints in the valley.  He said, 'With the start of Tihar, 44,509 people have left the valley and 31,120 have entered through various checkpoints in Kathmandu.'

According to the statistics of the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, Nagdhunga checkpoint is the busiest checkpoint. 18,920 passengers have left the valley through that checkpoint alone. Similarly, 285 have left the valley through Thankot checkpoint, 845 from Tinpiple checkpoint and 692 from Sankhu checkpoint.

Spokesperson Subedi said that a special traffic management plan has been implemented to minimize incidents such as traffic jams, vehicle accidents and passenger fraud during the festival. He said, "Traffic checkpoints have been activated at checkpoints and monitoring is being done to ensure that long-distance public transport does not carry more passengers than its seating capacity."