Karnataka - Bangalore

Pay Rs. 100 for spitting or flinging garbage

Bangalore: Four months after it was proposed in the budget, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has passed the resolution to set up a “litter cop force” to penalise people for littering in public places and to enforce the rules.

The force will be created and managed by the personnel of Territorial Army (TA), Bangalore, during the period when their services are not required by the Indian Army. However, the implementation of the rules might take some more time as the Territorial Army is not ready to commence the work immediately.

The provisions to impose fine for littering, including urinating, spitting, dumping garbage, etc., already exist in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, and are not enforced effectively at present except occasional use of provisions by the health officers.

Now the BBMP has decided to implement it effectively with the help of the external agency on selected areas and streets as it has no requisite staff strength to effectively implement the provisions of the law.

As per the resolution, the BBMP has decided to impose a spot fine of Rs. 100 each for the offences like not disposing of garbage in specified places, and for spitting, littering, urinating and for defecating in public places.

However, the “litter cops” can file a case against the offenders if they fail or refuse to pay the fine on the spot and later the designated courts will decide the case depending upon the offence after verifying the available proof.

Offenders can pay a lower fee — Rs. 10 for each offence — before the Court. But this process will result in judicial order that will declare offender as “guilty” of causing public nuisance, the officials said.

The “litter cops” will initially educate the public by creating awareness on keeping public places clean.

Penal action will follow after some time and for this purpose the BBMP will provide digital cameras and other accessories for the personnel to capture the proof of littering and collect fine on the spot, said the officials.

Meanwhile, the officials said that the BBMP has decided to pay Rs. 1.8 lakh per month to the Territorial Army, which is expected to deploy a 60-member team to enforce the rules, at the rate of Rs 3,000 a person.

The owners of pet dogs will have to pay a spot fine of Rs. 200 if their dog defecates in public places like roads, parks, playgrounds and so on. Provision for imposing penalty has been provided under Section 344(C) of the KMC Act.

However, pet owners failing to pay spot fine will have to appear before court and pay a fine Rs. 20 after judicial process which is likely to find them “guilty” of causing public nuisance depending on evidence.

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