Bhopal, Dec 25: In order to teach a lesson to those defecting in the open, a health officer of Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) went overboard on Sunday morning. Ajay Sharvan, the BMC area health officer, hit a labourer with a stick and forced him and other to do sit-ups for defecating in the open. Shravan admitted that he made labourers do sit-ups and fined them.
“I was informed that two labourers were defecating in the open. One of them had been previously warned and told to utilise the adjacent public toilet. We have fined both and made them do sit-ups,” Sharvan, responsible for enforcing sanitation and hygiene in BMC Zone 5, told Times of India. He went on to share the pictures of the incidents and appealed people to highlight it.
Mohit, one of the labourers, said he was hit by a lathi by the BMC officer. Another daily-wage earner Mangat Ram said he was made to do sit-ups in full public view. “Hitting or making a person do sit-ups is not permitted,” BMC additional commissioner MP Singh was quoted as saying. However, he did not comment whether any action would be taken against Sharvan.
BMC mayor Alok Sharma and commissioner Priyanka Das didn’t comment on the incident, while civil society activists termed the action of Ajay Sharvan shameful and a gross violation of human rights. The civic body has been taking several efforts to bag the first position as the cleanest city in the Swachh Bharat rankings for 2018. Last year, Bhopal stood second, while Indore bagged the first spot.