Urinating in open and spitting in government office premises will now attract a penalty as the Centre has issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Swachh Bharat Mission.
As per the SOP, littering and non-collection of construction and demolition waste by the contractor will also attract penalty.
As per the circular issued to all Central government offices, every department has to form a sanitation committee under the chairmanship of the relevant joint secretary to monitor compliance with the SOP.
The SOP casts an obligation to “impose penalty on defaulters for littering, spitting and open urinating”, besides conducting surprise inspections to ensure a clean, hygienic and healthy work environment.
“If contractors have the obligation to collect the construction and demolition waste, it should be done immediately after all work is finished. Failure to do so will attract penalty,” the SOP stated.
The Central government departments have been asked to carry out self-assessment and ratings for the buildings on overall sanitation infrastructure by measuring their effort in removing paan and gutkha stains, providing dustbins and required number of urinals to meet the cleanliness needs.
All government departments have been asked to ensure collection of waste, rubbish and debris inside and outside the building and garden or open spaces and dispose as per set frequency, the SOP said.
An intensive cleaning of the entire office premises should be carried out at least once in two months which should also involve participation of all officials and staff (through Shramdaan) for disposal of redundant or unused hardware, furniture which can be added to inventory and re-allocated as per demand, the SOP stated.
“Weeding and recording of files should be resorted to at least once in six months. The records in the record room should be reviewed once a year and destroyed as per guidelines,” the SOP said.
Published 25 May 2016, 19:27 IST