Throwing waste in public places can lead to a jail term or a fine up to Rs 100,000, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has announced.

A Tuesday’s meeting among KMC’s Environment Division’s chief Hari Bahadur Kunwar, Chief District Officer Kedarnath Sharma, and SSP Rabindra Bahadur Dhanuk , chief at Metropolitan Police Range, decided to curb public place littering through arrests and fines.

Kunwar said the metropolis will run a month-long awareness campaign against public place littering before the city starts arresting those caught in the act. Such persons, Kunwar said, will be held in KMC detention for up to 24 hours before they are submitted to police. The KMC is planning to take action against litterbugs as per the Soild Waste Management Act, 2068 (2011) that specifies a punishment of jail sentence up to three months or up to Rs 100,000 fine against those who are found guilty of polluting public places.

Kunwar said they had to take a strict measure to discourage people from befouling the city surroundings.

Since the KMC alone was unable to control public place littering, it had to rally Kathmandu police and local administration for the cause, he added.