Seeking to provide legal backing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, the Government is drafting a law under which municipalities can punish those found spitting, urinating and throwing garbage in public places.
The legislative Department of the law Ministry is finalising a ‘model’ law which can be adopted by States as per their local requirements. The decision to draft a model bill was taken after the legal Affairs Department of the law Ministry said a central law on the subject would be difficult to implement.
“The Constitution has put sanitation and related issues in the State list. Therefore, there cannot be a central law. But cleanliness goes beyond a State’s boundary. Thus, Government plans a model law which can be adopted by States and modified as per their requirements,” said a senior official.
The Government is of the view that self-regulation is not sufficient and a law to enforce the cleanliness drive will help the purpose. Issues like punishment, fine and enforcement of the law are being worked out on the lines of traffic challans so that the violators can be booked on the spot.
To avoid overlapping, the new law will be interwoven with existing rules in related sectors to make judicial approach to check practice of creating unhygienic atmosphere comprehensive and effective. The official pointed out that swine flu outbreak in a particular area affects the entire country, therefore, cleanliness cannot be termed as a local issue.
At a review meeting recently, the PMO had expressed desire that the laws governing cleanliness be examined so a comprehensive Act can be brought. In the past, various Central ministries have framed model bills for States to follow. These included a bill on flood zone planning.
Prime Minister Modi had picked a broom and swept the streets of the capital on October 2 last year, launching a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about cleanliness and better sanitation. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary to inform people about the link between sanitation and public health.
Meanwhile, rail tracks in a stretch of 175 km will not be strewn with human excreta from October 2 with the installation of bio-toilets on trains plying on two routes, marking completion of the first year of the launch of Swachh Bharat Campaign by Prime Minister.
Indian Railway has undertaken an initiative to make 367 km of tracks free from discharge of human waste from toilets on trains in the current fiscal. Of these, 175 km will become discharge-free on October 2.
To begin with, the 141 km Kanalus-Dwarka-Okha and the 34 km Porbunder-Wansjalya sections will become “zero toilet discharge” routes on October 2, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
Currently, about 11,000 passenger trains run on 65,000 km-long tracks across the country. Trains on the Jammu-Katra section, covering 78 km, and the 114 km track between Rameswaram and Manamadurai stations will be equipped with bio-toilets by March next year.
About 40 trains run on the identified 367 km-long tracks and bio-toilets will be installed on each of these by the end of this fiscal, said the official.
The Railway had launched PM’s clean India initiative on October 2 last year with the then Railway Minister Sadanada Gowda leading the campaign with a broom in hand at New Delhi station. “Efforts are on to achieve the unique milestone on Gandhi Jayanti day as part of the Swachh Bharat mission,” the official said.
In the bio-toilets, seen as a sustainable solution to India’s sanitation challenges, the waste is digested by specially developed bacteria and only a small amount of clean water is discharged. Indian Railway has installed more than 17,000 bio-toilets on trains till March 2015 and set a target for as many more this financial year. It costs about Rs 3 lakh to install four bio-toilets in a coach and about 6,000 coaches are now fully equipped with the facility.