NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spotted a gap in his Swachh Bharat campaign: the grotesque but common sight of men urinating in public places.
Modi has told the Union urban development (UD) ministry to ensure that the government’s outreach doesn’t just focus on open defecation in cities but target urination in public places as well.
As the first step, the PM has asked the ministry to change the nomenclature of the campaign’s tagline. In line with the PM’s directive following a meeting on June 1 to review the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission, the ministry has set the ball rolling to call its campaign “Open Urination and Defecation Free Cities by 2019”.
The PM’s point, a senior government official who attended the meeting said, was that the earlier tagline – “Making Cities Open Defecation Free” – did not adequately reflect the challenge of public urination across the country.
“Since stopping urinating in open is also going to be an important benchmark for successful implementation of the program, a need was felt to focus on this aspect also,” another official said.
Government officials who attended the June 1 meeting said that the UD ministry, which is anchoring the programme in urban areas, has already started the process of changing the nomenclature. “It was decided to incorporate urination along with defecation in the tagline to highlight the problem,” an official added.
{{/usCountry}}Government officials who attended the June 1 meeting said that the UD ministry, which is anchoring the programme in urban areas, has already started the process of changing the nomenclature. “It was decided to incorporate urination along with defecation in the tagline to highlight the problem,” an official added.
{{/usCountry}}Acknowledging the menace, the ministry had earlier this year directed states to start levying spot fines and penalty for urinating in public by April 30 in at least one ward in each city.
Many states including Rajasthan have amended their municipal byelaws to incorporate a provision for imposing fines for littering, peeing in public and open defecation.
Along with levying fines, the ministry has also set a strict time frame for states to provide adequate number of public toilets and ensure facilities for garbage collection and disposal.