The Sulthan Bathery municipal council is set to score another first again. After bagging the cleanest tag for the hill town, the civic body is gearing up to make it the first non-spitting zone in the State.

“The Sulthan Bathery municipal council will slap a fine of ₹500 from Saturday on first-time offenders as per Section 341 of the Kerala Municipalities Act. The same fine will be imposed for blowing nose, open urination, and open defecation in the municipal town and public places,” says municipal chairman T.L. Sabu.

The civic body has already started imposing a fine between ₹250 and ₹25,000 for littering and dumping waste in the town. “The council in January decided to ban spitting, open urination, and open defecation in the town, public places, parks and streets under the municipality.”

Awareness drive

“We have sensitised the public with the support of Kudumbashree workers, traders’ organisations, students, trade unions and social media on the significance of making the town a non-spitting zone,” Mr.Sabu says.

“We have cleaned many spitting spots in the town and erected billboards warning offenders,” he says, adding that paan vendors and others have been warned that they would be booked if paan stains are found near their outlets.

Special squads comprising health inspectors, policemen, and activists have been constituted to detect offenders. The government recently issued a circular to avoid spitting in public places to maintain respiratory hygiene in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Mr. Sabu says.

HC intervention

Though most civic bodies in the State have prohibited spitting in public places and prescribed penalties, it remains mostly on paper. Spitting and blowing nose in public places have been banned in the State following the intervention of the High Court in 2006 but it largely remains unobserved.