Kathmandu, Oct 11:

One million 300 thousand people have exited Kathmandu Valley in one week for their home districts to celebrate Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal. According to the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE), this number includes those people who left the Valley till day.

FNNTE had estimated that around 1.8 million passengers would exit the Valley via road transport for Dashain this year.

FNNTE president Bijaya Swar said that although it was estimated that around 1.5 million to 1.8 million passengers will be leaving Kathmandu Valley for their home towns for celebrating Dashain this year, 1.3 million, less than the estimated number, left the Valley due to the disruption of roads from flooding and landslides triggered by incessant rains on September 27 and 28.

'The roads are in poor shape and the travel is difficult. Despite this situation, 1.3 million people have left the Valley for their home districts to celebrate Dashain festival,' he said.

According to Kuwar, the exact figure of people leaving the Valley is awaited as people will be leaving for their homes until Friday.

One million 800 thousand people had left the Kathmandu Valley for their home districts away from the Valley for the Dashain festival last year.