As Nepal is celebrating the World Environment Day on Wednesday, plight of sick traffic police here has come to public notice. The number of traffic police personnel suffering from different diseases is rising day by day due to air and dust pollution caused by road expansion drive, the Traffic Police Department said.

According to a press statement, everyday 40 to 50 traffic police deployed for traffic management are becoming sick due to different diseases. Such numbers were 10 to 15 a year ago.

Smoke, dust, sound pollution and air pollution are the main reasons for the raising number of police being sick from different diseases. Ensuring the safety of traffic police is a major challenge for Nepal Police.

Traffic police are found suffering from asthma, bone related diseases, chest and throat problems, ear and eye problems, among others. The sound pollution of Kathmandu valley has significantly gone up due to road expansion drive.

With a purpose of finding health condition of their staff, the Traffic Department under Nepal Police organized a health camp on Sunday. The press release issued by the Traffic Department said that most of the police personnel are suffering from bone related problems.

Out of 355 personnel who checked up their health, 97 were found suffering from bone related problems as they have to stand on the road for many hours. Due to air pollution and dust caused by road expansion drive, 76 people were suffering from throat problem. Similarly, 51 personnel were suffering from chest related diseases.

Traffic Police said they were requesting the traffic personnel to take safety measures while being deployed on the street. Endi