While the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation recently elicited national attention by penalising a person for spitting Pan Masala in a public place, the authorities in Uttarakhand seem to be lax when it comes to enforcement of the Uttarakhand Anti Littering and Anti Spitting Act 2016. Public representatives from the Prime Minister to the Chief Minister and Mayor along with departmental officials frequently stress on the importance of maintaining desired level of civic sanitation. However, when it comes to enforcing the laws to ensure this, the authorities seem to be lagging behind. According to information procured under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, there have been only 522 cases of fines being imposed on people in Dehradun for littering since the introduction of the Anti-Littering and Anti-Spitting Act 2016 more than two years ago.
As per the information received under RTI Act by founding member of Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD) Abhijay Negi, after the Anti Littering and Anti Spitting Act 2016 came into force, in Dehradun district which comprises four cantonment boards and seven other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) only 522 challans have been issued. During this time period, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun collected Rs 2,81,080 from 444 challans.
The eight ULBs in Nainital issued 842 challans during this period. Similarly, 10 ULBs in Haridwar district issued 321 challans, while 209 challans were issued by six ULBs in Almora district, 259 by 16 ULBs in Udham Singh Nagar, 173 by 10 ULBs in Tehri, 167 by six ULBs in Uttarkashi, 157 by four ULBs in Champawat, 136 by two ULBs in Bageshwar, 113 by seven ULBs in Pauri, 100 by five ULBs in Pithoragarh, 18 by five ULBs in Rudraprayag and 31 by 10 ULBs in Chamoli. Only 3058 people were slapped with fines from the sate in three years after the Act was implemented.
Negi said, “It is very surprising to see that only a few people were penalised for littering. Dehradun is such a sizeable city despite which only a few people were caught littering the public places. Some of the ULBs in the state have not issued any challans for littering, which is disappointing. It is not about the fines but the enforcement of the Act. Few people have been booked for littering in nearly three years whereas in reality, littering is common with people conveniently throwing garbage in the open. It is important that the rules get followed properly so that a better understanding regarding sanitation can be generated in the public.”
The Dehradun municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said, “We have a plan for implementing the Act more strictly in the city very soon. Also, simply imposing penalties is not the solution as awareness among individuals is also very important.”