Hyderabad traffic-police garland those found relieving themselves in public

Police in Hyderabad have come up with an eye-catching way to shame people who relieve themselves in public – by garlanding them. A new campaign in the city sees traffic police swoop on people spotted relieving themselves on the street. Inspector Rama Swamy says he got the idea after seeing social workers doing something similar in Delhi several years ago. “After garlanding them, we request them not to create filth and use the public toilets instead,” he says in a report in the BBC.

Two sub-inspectors, Ramanaiah and Kotaiah, along with Rama Swamy, found people urinating on the footpath opposite the railway station near Subhash Chandra Bose statue at Secunderabd. They garlanded the men and requested them not to urinate on footpaths and told them that public toilets were not far away, one located opposite the railway station and another near the No. 10 bus stop.

This is not the first time that the Mahankali traffic police has taken up a novel campaign. Earlier, they distributed chocolates to two-wheeler riders wearing helmets. This they did at junctions when nearly 20 two-wheeler riders were not wearing helmets and two were.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Rama Swamy said it was a small effort as part of the Swachch Hyderabad initiative. “We are doing our bit to create awareness among the people to keep Hyderabad clean and also follow traffic rules,” he said.

Many people commenting on the force’s Facebook page applaud the initiative, although plenty think the problem could be solved with greater access to public facilities. “Construct public toilets first… Don’t waste on flowers,” one person writes. But others think it’s more of an attitude problem. “Has anyone seen a woman doing this nonsense in public? Isn’t she human too? And, if a woman can control, why cannot a man?” asks one user.

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