Now pay fine for open defecation in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to make smart city Bhubaneswar an Open Defecation Free (ODF), the civic body has decided to impose a fine of Rs 50 on anyone found defecating in the open.

The move by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) at a meeting held here on Friday will stop people especially the slum dwellers from defecating in the open grounds including railway station, road, river, canal and landscape.

“A fine of Rs 50 per person will be levied for defecating in the open. A massive awareness-cum-behaviour change drive will be launched across the city shortly to declare municipal wards free from open defecation,” said a BMC official.

As per the decision, the fine amount will be collected by the concerned ward sanitation committee and self help groups from the person found defecating in the open grounds in the areas under BMC.

All kinds of initiatives will be taken to make the city clean under Swachh Bharat Mission and people will be informed about the rule imposing fine for open defecation, said BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The decision was taken earlier in meeting held in February this year. Even after constructing community toilets within 500 metre of slums where the households do not have space to construct toilet, and many public toilets were also constructed within a 1km radius in commercial areas across the city, no satisfactory result was found so far.

The BMC decided to impose the rule after Bhubaneswar slipped to 245th rank from the rank 94 in the Swachh Survekshan 2018 cleanliness survey.