A meeting of the Chief District Officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur held on Monday afternoon decided to impose a week-long prohibitory order in Kathmandu Valley from Thursday. This decision was made public a few hours later and immediately, people started scrambling to buy bus and air tickets. By the time the Cabinet decided to extend the order to 15 days in the evening, thousands had already gathered at major bus stops like Kalanki, Gongabu and Koteshwor, eager to leave the capital before the restrictions came into force.