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PMC high on action against litterers, low on open defecators
Pune Residents seen squatting in the open in the morning and at dusk has laid bare the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) claim that the city is free of open defecation
Pune Residents seen squatting in the open in the morning and at dusk has laid bare the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) claim that the city is free of open defecation with the authorities receiving complaints from citizens. In 2017, President Ramnath Kovind had declared the urban areas of Maharashtra as open defecation free (ODF). However, after two years, urinating or defecating in public is a common sight.
Saurabh Rao, Pune municipal commission, has now directed assistant commissioners of every ward to take an early morning walk and spend at least two hours in their respective wards and check that there is no open defecation. Since the civic body declared the city open defection free (ODF) on the Republic Day of 2017, the administration has come down heavily on litterers which includes people spitting in public places, garbage burning and open urination.
When HT photographers visited a few spots, they found open defecation at Mukundnagar near Swargate, on the banks of Mutha river near Aundh and near Market Yard. Most of these spots were slum areas.
Dnyaneshwar Molak, head of PMC solid waste management department, said, “From November 2018 to December 3, 2019, PMC has collected over Rs one core as penalty from over 44,031 residents. We have constructed over 46,500 individual toilets as against the 17,500 target set by the central government. We do not need to build any more toilets. In fact, we will now renovate about 310 toilets as ‘best’ toilets which will have facilities like hand dryer, sanitary napkins, incinerators and mirror.”
Molak admitted that not a single case of open defecation penalty has been recorded. To keep a check on open defecators, the civic body also has a team of “Seeti and Kathi” pathak, who drive away offenders with whistles and sticks.
The commissioner in a recent meeting with department heads and assistant commissioners directed all the ward officers to take a morning walk and emphasise on an open defecation-free city.
Pratima Joshi, activist, Shelter Associates, said, “I would agree to this fact to quite some extent as the number of individual toilets in slums has gone up which reduces the pressure on community toilets. There may be sporadic incidents of open defecation because no city can be free of it.”
For an open defecation free city
Penalty for ODF under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
Spitting-Rs 150
Garbage- Rs 180
Defecation- Rs 500
Garbage burning- Rs 500
Open urination: Rs 200
Penalty collected by PMC from November 2018 to December 3, 2019 is Rs 1,00, 79, 295 from 44,031 residents
Not a single case of open defecation penalty
The PMC has built 46,500 individual toilets, as against the 17,500 target set by the central government.
1,224 community toilets in the city, out of which 310 will be turned into “best” toilets by December 15 this year.
