Delhi civic bodies to jail people for littering
Delhi civic bodies reportedly plan to make the acts of littering in public places and allowing mosquito breeding in households criminal offences with appropriate jail terms. The imprisonment will vary from one month to six months depending on the severity of the violation. This comes after Municipal Corporation officials said existing penalties were too weak to deter violators. 
Trash the city and you may end up behind bars.To deter litterbugs, Delhi's BJP-ruled civic bodies are planning to make discarding of waste in public places and even allowing mosquito breeding in households a criminal offence with appropriate jail terms under the Indian Penal Code.The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has already issued orders in this regard and the two other agencies will follow suit, officials said. Municipal magistrates will keep a check on violators and ensure they are prosecuted. A person can get a maximum jail term of six months for such an offence.The Narendra Modi government last year directed states to start levying fines for littering, open defecation and public urination as the Prime Minister's flagship Swachh Bharat Mission failed to have the desired effect in urban areas. 'EXISTING PENALTY TOO WEAK'According to MCD officials, the existing penalty on violating sanitation bylaws is too weak to deter people and so it was decided to slap criminal charges on them. The imprisonment would vary from one month to six months depending on severity of the violation."To keep Delhi free of littering and insanitary conditions, various provisions of IPC and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act may be invoked against the violators...departments may proceed accordingly," said an order issued by the chief law officer of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.Public spaces in the Capital often are eyesores full of rotting piles of garbage along the streets, in neighbourhoods, public parks and playgrounds, and outside fancy air-conditioned malls and five-star hotels. HIGH COURT INSTRUCTIONSThe move from the corporations follows instructions of the Delhi High Court to maintain proper sanitation in the city. The court had recently pulled up the three civic bodies and had said that even citizens should take the responsibility of keeping their surroundings clean. The HC directed that a time-bound garbage collection system be set up to prevent the piling of waste. A senior MCD official said mosquito breeding in households is a key concern of the civic body as this could result into the outbreak of vectorborne diseases like dengue and chikungunya. "Cases of dengue in recent years have been on the rise, claiming several lives. The occupants of a house where dengue larva is found may be booked for endangering public life and causing health hazards. The provision attracts a fine and imprisonment of up to six months," he said. Similarly, negligence by people that is likely to spread fatal diseases would also be dealt with strictly. The civic body has identified 14 provisions under IPC to deal with sanitation woes. Any pollution that may cause fouling of drinking water has also been put in the category of criminal offences. 'FAILED ATTEMPTS' Officials said repeated attempts by the MCDs to amend the sanitation bylaws for higher penalty have failed to yield results. The draft of the amendment is pending with the Delhi government for the last seven years. The modified rules would have provision for hefty penalties up to Rs 10,000 and five times higher for repeated offenders. Apart from the fine, the civic bodies have also proposed widening the ambit of the law. Littering caused by distributing food material (langar), illegal burning of solid waste, improper storage of construction material and non-segregation of recyclable and nonrecyclable waste will attract fines. These activities were till now undefined and so exempted from prosecution. The MCDs proposed to increase the fine for littering caused by langars to Rs 5,000, while penalty for dumping construction material on roadside was fixed at Rs 10,000. The proposed amendment prescribed a fine of Rs 500 for littering, spitting and urinating in public places. It also empowers the municipal magistrates to order community services, like road cleaning, garbage and graffiti removal, in case a person fails to pay the fine. The amendment in "Delhi Sanitation and Public Health Bylaws" was proposed by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on June 23, 2010 and the civic body had adopted it through a resolution passed by the House.