Kathmandu, January 1:

Over two lakh Kathmandu residents swarmed the major hubs of Kathmandu valley last evening to celebrate New Year and welcome 2006.

“Around 175,000 people thronged Thamel alone,” said Ganesh Bahadur Pandey, chairman of Thamel Tourism Board (TTB), a team formed to promote tourism at Thamel. “This may be the biggest ever crowd that has assembled at Thamel to celebrate such an occasion,” he added.

There is no authentic data available on the number of people who were out to celebrate New Year last night at major hubs in the valley. But TTB puts the figure at over 200,000.

With their business booming, restaurant owners at Durabarmarg, Jamal, Sundhara, Putalisadak and Bouddha were making merry.

Traffic police also had a tough time late into the night. Traffic was very slow at Putalisadak, Durbarmarg, Kantipath and Lekhnathmarg and connecting roads, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Krishna Bahadur Rana of the Valley Traffic Police Office.

Sociologists see the assimilation of urban culture and the increasing impact of Western psychology behind such a celebration of an English New Year. “English-oriented education, Western television channels and the impact of Western development programmes in Nepal may be influencing this generation to celebrate such occasions,” sociologist Krishna Bahadur Bhattachan said.