Litter during NYE revelry and pay Rs 200 in fine

Ring in the new year but think twice before littering or indulging in any other act of public nuisance in Bengaluru's party hubs, for BBMP marshals will not think twice before fining you Rs 200.

The civic body is deploying about 50 marshals as well as several health officials along Brigade Road, Church Street, MG Road and in Indiranagar, Koramangala and Sanjaynagar to keep a close watch on litterers and nuisance creators on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Sarfaraz Khan, the BBMP Joint Commissioner for Health and Solid Waste Management, said the civic body would not tolerate revellers throwing garbage, vomiting or urinating on the streets. Restaurants, pubs and bars throwing garbage during these two days will not be spared either.

According to him, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun and BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad have directed deputing marshals and fining offenders. The mayor has called a meeting on Monday to review the steps taken to keep the city clean after New Year's celebrations, he added.

As part of a crackdown on acts of public nuisance, the government amended the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act, 1976. Accordingly, the penalty for littering, spitting, urinating, open defecation and other acts of public nuisance on roads, bus stations, railway stations, playgrounds and other premises of public utility was increased from Rs 100 to Rs 500.

Until December 29 this year, BBMP marshals collected Rs 7 lakh from more than 8,000 people for throwing garbage on the streets.

Scores of marshals were deployed during the Kadlekai Parishe (the annual groundnut fair on Bull Temple Road) and Avarekai Mela (held around Sajjan Rao Circle and Food Street in VV Puram) and checked the littering, Khan said.