Kathmandu Valley bears cleaner looks after weeks of pollution

Kathmandu [Nepal], April 24 : The Kathmandu Valley, which was covered with a thick layer of haze and pollution in early April, now bears a cleaner look after recent rainfall and winds.
Mountain ranges smiled along the northern side of the bowl-shaped Kathmandu Valley which was earlier choked with heavy smog triggered by wildfires around the nation. Residents of Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur) breathed much cleaner air as the pollutants level registered was less than 35 mg/m3 in recent days.
With a reduction in pollution levels, residents of the Kathmandu Valley witnessed a clearer view of the mountains from hill tops as well as the roads.
"The weather in the Kathmandu Valley looks entirely different from the earlier days. In earlier weeks it was covered with smog and low visibility. Now it's clearer than before. We are able to see the mountain ranges surrounding the valley," Krishna Chandra Khatri, a resident of Kathmandu told ANI.
Structured like a bowl, the Kathmandu Valley claimed the title of most polluted city in the world for weeks as the air quality index (AQI) hit more than 400 micrograms per cubic metre (mg/m3) in the first week of January and 303.89 mg/m3 on March 26.
Choking levels of hazardous substances in the air prompted the government to close down all the educational institutions for four days in the last week of March.
Followed by several rounds of rainfall triggered by the local air system and the westerly wind, the air in Kathmandu has significantly improved. Distant hills and even the mountains to the north of the Valley have become a clearer sight for residents here.