Split if you dare

MUMBAI: Taking a cue from Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s vision of transforming this city into a replica of the swanky Chinese city of Shanghai, Mumbai civic authorities have embarked upon a major cleanliness drive which would make spitting and littering punishable offences.

Commencing in October, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) plans to introduce bye-laws which would attract a fine of Rs 500 if a citizen is caught spitting or bathing or littering a public place and Rs 10,000 for co-operative societies which do not maintain clean premises, according to RA Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner.

This is perhaps the first civic body in the country to introduce fines for those found spitting and throwing litter in the city areas, civic sources said. Housing societies or complexes keeping their premises dirty, storing waste outside the designated area, storing waste in unspecified bins or failing to segregate them as specified will also attract fines of Rs 1,000-10,000.

Similarly, generators of commercial waste like hotels, shops, hawkers and vendors, will be fined Rs 1,000-10,000 for not keeping waste bins, not segregating the waste or keeping their premises filthy. Parking a car while municipal sweeping operations are on, will also invite a fine of Rs 5,000.

Political organisations and event organisers will also have to be careful about their advertisements and events as pasting posters or graffiti will invite a fine up to Rs 10,000 while, not clearing the premises within 24 hours of an event will mean forfeiture of deposit ranging from Rs 10,000-50,000.

Noted film actress Raveena Tandon has offered to help the civic body in creating awareness among the citizens about the necessity of a clean city. “While we welcome Raveena’s offer, the civic body would not like to involve celebrities because we want the entire focus of our endeavour to be on cleanliness of the city and not get diverted,” Mr Rajeev said.
In case an offender is unable to pay the fine, the proposed bye-laws require that the offender will be required to do community service for at least one hour like road sweeping or graffiti cleaning. The proposed bye-laws also cover private land where there may be garbage. Individuals and co-operative societies will also have to segregate garbage into dry and wet categories and any infraction of this will attract a penalty of Rs 5,000-10,000.

The municipal corporation has notified the citizens about the new bye-laws and has invited their suggestions or objections on or before September 18. The administration is also proactively sending the copy of the bye-laws to NGOs, hospitals, educational institutes, various unions and community organisations.

The corporation will provide adequate community toilets in slum areas and conduct awareness drives amongst the people to avoid defecating or bathing in public, Mr Rajeev said. After receiving feedback from the citizens and other organisations, those found relevant will be incorporated in the bye-laws after necessary approvals , he added.