Mumbai: With just a few days left for President Ram Nath Kovind to arrive in Mumbai on October 1 to declare Urban Maharashtra as Open Defecation Free (ODF), civic authorities in Mumbai are scrambling with their ‘Good Morning’ squads to stop people from excreting in the open.
It’s a tough job for the 180 employees of 36 ‘Good Morning’ squads formed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) who are given the task of patrolling the streets from 5.30am onwards to ensure no one defecates in the open. The rush to stop this problem is to also keep up with the deadline of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean Indian Mission) which completes three years on October 2.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is aimed at keeping streets and infrastructure of the country, towns and rural areas clean, eliminating open defecation by constructing individual, cluster and community toilets.
The Maharashtra government had in May this year decided to form ‘Good Morning’ squads to monitor and stop open defecation in all villages and districts across the state. A government resolution was issued to this effect. The BMC took it up for Mumbai and the squad has booked 576 people and collected Rs57,600 (Dh3,231) as fine during the past 15 days.
Each team has a clean-up marshal, solid waste management workers and labourers who not only fine those violating the rules but also conduct cleanliness campaigns and find out if local residents have access to toilets.
Though the BMC has already declared the city to be ODF and received an acknowledgement from the Quality Council of India, many residents are not convinced. Even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had tweeted on July 7 this year, “Great news for Mumbai! Mumbai becomes Open Defacation Free (ODF). Good job BMC and Shri Ajoy Mehta!” (Mehta is the municipal commissioner of BMC).
However, there are numerous complaints of people using the beaches, including Juhu and Versova beaches, as well as the side of rail tracks as open toilets.
The BMC says that there are already around 8,000 public toilets in addition to 4,000 new toilets being constructed. The civic authority also plans to install 800 mobile toilets at 95 locations.
It is not just the inadequate number of public toilets in the city, but the filthy conditions of most toilets that are a huge obstacle in tackling the ODF issue. They are poorly maintained with problems of lack of water supply, electricity, no cleaning and often in a dilapidated condition. It is mostly the toilets in distant suburbs and crowded slums that take a hit.
Though Mumbai has been certified as ODF, the question is whether the city can sustain this movement in the long run and not slide back to open defecation, said an official. The state government is presently reviewing the situation.
