Thane: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is taking special efforts in the form of various campaigns to improve the cleanliness in Thane city. In the process, the Thane civic body has decided to revise the amount of fine as the cleanliness drive has been undertaken in a more intense manner in the city.
The penalty for littering, spitting, open defecation, urination and defiling in public places by pets has increased by three times.
TMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, "While the civic body is trying to fulfill its responsibility, if the citizens do not contribute to it then it becomes difficult to keep the city clean. Citizens of Thane city are very much conscious about cleanliness, but some citizens are still not seen to follow their responsibility towards cleanliness. In order to keep the city clean, it becomes necessary to take the unpleasant decision of penalizing such persons.In Thane city till date fines were imposed for open littering, open defecation / defecation, spitting, defecation by pets."
Bangar added, "Already there is provision for penal action against violators under Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules 2016. But due to the fact that the amount of the fine is small, even after imposing a fine, citizens are not taking it seriously, so we decided to revise the amount of the fine and its implementation has been started from Saturday, December 17."
As per the revised penalty by TMC, now littering and throwing waste on roads will cost Rs 500 instead of Rs 180 earlier while for spitting in public places one will have to pay Rs 500 instead of Rs 150 earlier , open urination current fine is Rs.200 which has been increased to Rs 1,000 and the open defecation fine of Rs 500 from current has been increased to Rs 1,000 now and defiling in public by pets will now cost Rs 1,000 instead of present Rs 180.
Awadh Bhoyar, a resident of Thane said, "I would really appreciate the TMC decision because few public don't understand their civic responsibilities and they unnecessarily spit on the roads making the roads dirty. The revision in penalty is a good step and it should be strictly imposed."
Poornima Jadhav, another resident from Thane said, " According to me such things are imposed to harass the common man. Many times the TMC employees who are deployed for the collection of penalty behave very rudely and they also catch some wrong people."
Pradeep Kadam, a dog lover from Thane said, " The TMC was already collecting fines for defiling in public places by pets and the fine of Rs 180 was okay. I don't justify the threefold increase in the penalty. The civic body should then also come up with a pet garden in the city."
Bangar added, "Citizens are expected to behave with awareness of their duties. The positive work that has been done till date in Thane city in cleanliness can be done only because of the participation of the city citizens. However, it is necessary to take punitive action against those citizens who try to defeat this purpose through their actions, so this decision has been taken and cooperation is expected from the Thanekars."
