Public spitting, urinating to attract hefty fine in Bihar

Patna municipal corporation giving final shape to draft

 
Rattled over the uncivilised behaviour of its residents, who do not bat an eyelid before defecating or littering on roads, the Bihar Government has decided to “rein in” such persons with least civic sense.

Mandarins of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) are giving a final shape to a draft proposal wherein those who pee in public will have to shell out Rs 100 as fine.
“Those who are found spitting on roads, throwing garbage or washing their vehicles on roads will be punished with a penalty of Rs 200 for each offence,” a senior official of the Corporation told  Deccan Herald.

Violation of Act

He hastened to add that peeing or spitting in public was a violation of the Bihar Municipal Act 2007.

The Act authorises the civic body to frame rules to impose penalty on offenders, but none of the urban local bodies in Bihar ever bothered to do so.

The Patna Municipal Corporation has actually taken a leaf out of Mumbai’s book, wherein the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) collected a whopping Rs 5.94 crore as fine from such offenders in the last 18 months.

The fine was collected by clean-up marshals, who patrol the Mumbai streets and penalise people urinating in public.

No clean up marshals

As of now, there are no clean-up marshals in the city of Patna but the draft proposal has envisaged their deployment, according to the official.

“We have invited expression of interest from private agencies for deployment of 500 clean-up marshals in major commercial areas.

“Half of the amount collected by marshals as fine would be given to the agency for its services,” said the official, adding that nearly 20 such agencies had evinced keen interest in taking up the clean- up job.