A month after the BMC brought back the clean-up marshal squad to impose cleanliness discipline across the city, the civic body has decided to appoint them at its six hospitals as well. These marshals will keep an eye on the walkways and seating areas in civic hospitals and penalise the staff or patients’ relatives if they are caught littering.
Officials said four marshals will be deployed in Mumbai Central’s Nair Hospital, Sion, KEM hospitals at Parel, Rajawadi in Ghatkopar, Cooper in Vile Parle and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivali.
The clean-up marshal scheme was revived on April 13. The most common offence witnessed is littering, for which the penalty is Rs 200. The BMC hospitals are usually criticised for lack of cleanliness, corridors strewn with litter, non-functional machinery and rusted cupboards.
A senior civic official said that its conservancy workers clean the hospital premises regularly, but some of the civic-run hospitals regularly have large numbers of visitors in the out-patient departments, besides relatives of admitted patients. The problem arises mainly in the walkways and seating areas where visitors gather, eat and sleep.
The officials said, “They litter where they eat and corners have spit and pan masala stains. With the best medical facilities, we also want to maintain hygiene in our hospitals.”
Clean-up marshals can fine citizens caught spitting, defecating, or littering in public places anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 1,000. The penalty for littering and spitting on public roads is Rs 200, washing vehicles on public roads is Rs 1,000, for disposal of waste by burning it is Rs 100 and for littering by pet animals is Rs 500.
