KATHMANDU: Traffic police in the Kathmandu Valley are facing difficulties in conducting drunk driving checks due to an insufficient number of breathalyzer machines.
According to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, several breathalyzer devices were destroyed during vandalism and arson incidents that occurred amid the Gen-Z youth protests on September 8-9, leading to a shortage of equipment for enforcement.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nawaraj Adhikari, chief of the Valley Traffic Police Office, said the limited number of available machines are now being shared among traffic teams deployed across different areas on a rotational basis.
Earlier, the department had around 300 breathalyzer machines, but only 27 remain functional at present, according to Traffic Police Spokesperson Superintendent of Police (SP) Naresh Raj Subedi. “We previously used to conduct regular alcohol tests using those machines, but their destruction during the protests has caused operational challenges,” SP Subedi said.
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