Open defecation: Bombay HC calls BMC’s bluff

Mumbai: A few weeks after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared Mumbai an ‘open defecation free’ city, the Bombay high court on Friday called BMC’s bluff and said the problem of open defecation will not be solved till the public cultivates a sense of civic awareness. The court directed BMC to consider a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which the court was hearing, as a representation and consider if implementing suggestions given in the PIL is possible or not.

The petition said the government should amend the law and take action against people found relieving themselves in the open. The PIL was filed in connection with open defecation, saying the government does not need to pay a huge amount to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan or spend on advertisements to create awareness.

The BMC had recently written to the Union urban development ministry and the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign, claiming that Mumbai is now open defecation free. The civic body claims that the 118 spots across in the 24 wards of the city identified as places where open defecation was practiced now have toilet blocks within a radius of 500 metres from the place.

A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Vishwas Rao Devkar, who stated that the state government had amended the Bombay Village Panchayat Act and Maharashtra Zila Parsihad and Panchayat Samiti Act in 2010 and made it compulsory that every candidate who contests election has to construct a toilet in his house. Mr Devkar alleged that despite the said amendment, people did not use toilets on a regular basis. People construct toilets only to get certificate to contest elections and getting jobs in the government sector, he said.  

The petition sought that the high court direct the state government that non-users of toilets will not get the benefit of government schemes.

Work in progress?

• The BMC has written to the CR and WR seeking their cooperation in constructing toilets along railway tracks where open defecation is still practiced.
• The civic body has admitted that places such as Bandra and Kurla still see open defecation, but only along railway tracks.
• The BMC has deployed clean-up marshals in the 118 spots where open defecation was being practiced to usher people who defecate in the open to nearby toilets.
• Activists have refuted the civic body’s claims.