Pimpri: In its attempt to make the city 100 per cent open defecation free (ODF) by October 2, 2017, the health department of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has fined over 77 people for going out in the open for defecation as well as for littering in public places.
The fine is Rs 500 per person. A good morning squad formed under Swachh Bharat Mission has been roaming around the vulnarable areas in the city in the morning and imposing a fine of Rs 500 on each person found littering on the spot. However, PCMC officials said that they charged 77 people and the total amount of fine was Rs 38,500.
But PCMC could recover only Rs 11,450 from these offenders. The civic administration has also fined around 270 people for littering in the open.
The fine amounting to Rs 56,000 was collected from these offenders.
Joint Commissioner of PCMC Dilip Gawade said, "As the PCMC is aiming to make PCMC a defecation free spot, we have intensified the drive against people who are not using public or private household toilets. To change people's mindset is a major challenge befor us. We are tackling this challenge through various ways. We have identified 48 spots in the city where open defecation is still in practice. We have taken every possible effort to provide facilities. Out of these 48 spots, we are going to provide portable toilet facility at 18 spots as the distance of existing facility is little more."
In May, a team from State government had visited the city for a review of Swachh Bharat Mission's progress. The team has come across the PCMC rehabilitation project in Vitthal Nagar where people using passages of the building as OD spot. The project has been completed but is not yet allotted to the beneficiaries.
For certification of OD free city, the civic body has to go through third party inspection of Quality Council of India (QCI). Team of QCI will inspect the situation thoroughly. They will refuse to certify the city even if a single incident of OD will be found during their inspection.
As per State government directives, PCMC has appointed good morning squads so that they could keep vigil in the area where vulnerable spots exist. Officials from Swachh Bharat cell of PCMC are also conducting spot visits in the morning to understand problems.
PCMC has the target of constructing 11,684 individual household latrines (IIHL) in Swachh Bharat mission to make city OD free. So far, 10,817 applications were received by the civic body for construction of IIHL out of which 9,605 applications were uploaded on Swachh Bharat Mission website. 6,237 applications were approved by the government.
Construction of 5,469 IIHLs has been already begun. Construction of 5067 IIHL has been completed by the civic body. While construction of 361 seats of community toilets has been started and construction of 175 seats has been completed by the civic body.
