Surat (Gujarat): Spitting in public places proved costly for the people of Surat city. More than 18,000 residents of the city were fined for the their 'poor civic sense'. Keeping an eye on those having scant regard for the cleanliness, the Surat municipal corporation workers have been keeping close watch on them.
Civic workers were pressed into service to scan the 'spitting-act' captured on the CCTV cameras, installed at several vantage points of the city. For the past several days, the drive was being carried out in the city. Online challans have been sent to 18,000 erring people and a sum of rupees two lakh has been realized from them as fine.
Speaking about the ongoing drive, mayor of the Surat Municipal Corporation, Hemali Boghavala, said, "The special initiative was taken to inculcate cleanliness habit among the citizens of the city. Our workers are keeping a close watch for the upkeep of the public places. The CCTV camera footages are being scanned on a regular basis. We are also taking the help of Surat Police Department's Integrated Command and Control Centre, for keeping an eye on defaulters."
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"Based on CCTV camera footages; we used to send e-challan to those found guilty of spitting at public places. To make the campaign more intensive, we are also planning to team up with Regional Transport Office (RTO). The new arrangement will kickstart from April. People of Surat always came forward for the upkeep of the city. This time also the residents of Surat will cooperate with us in cleaning the city. More than 18000 people have been booked for littering or spitting the public places and this figure may go up in coming days," the mayor said.
