Beware, Guwahatians! If you are caught spitting, urinating on or dirtying the city streets, be ready to face the music. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), in order to keep the city clean, has started punishing people spitting on roads by levying a fine on offenders.
The GMC on July 9th, 2019 launched a unique initiative in the form of ‘flying squad’ to attend to various issues of the public like garbage, drain cleaning and so on. The squad will penalise the city folks who are found urinating, spitting on the road, footpath, road divider or any other public places and it will be applicable from August 2019 onwards.
It may be mentioned that just a week after the reopening of the Old Saraighat Bridge, the railings were found to be painted with paan stains. Half-chewed mouthfuls of betel leaf, areca nut and slaked lime spat out by pedestrians were spotted on the railings of the Assam’s first rail-cum-road bridge over the river Brahmaputra.
The squad will also penalise people for using plastic or any kind of plastic materials that are banned. The squad will also penalise or seize any building material or any such material stacked in the footpath or street.
If anyone is found littering in any public places, the squad will take action against those defaulters as per the provision of the law. A total of six numbers of ‘flying squad’ will be deputed by the GMC one in each division.
