West Bengal to levy fine over spitting, defecating, dumping waste: Govt

The West Bengal government announced penalties ranging from ₹100 to ₹200 for actions such as spitting, defecating, and improperly disposing of waste and single-use plastic bags on roads and in other urban areas, according to state urban development minister Agnimitra Paul. These penalties are set to commence from September 1. The minister cited Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh, which has been recognized as India's cleanest city for eight consecutive years, as an example of a successful initiative.

Paul emphasized that the objective is not revenue generation but to raise awareness about maintaining cleanliness. The state government plans to deploy dustbins at strategic locations, install urinals at regular intervals, and introduce bag vending machines in markets. Unlike residential areas, dustbins will not be placed there to prevent residents from disposing of waste there.

Instead, municipal waste collectors will pick up waste from residents' doorsteps in separate bags designed for dry and wet waste. An app has been developed to allow authorized officials to take photographs of the offense, capture the offender's name and contact information, upload this data to the app, generate a QR code, and enable digital payment through the QR code.

The offender will receive a receipt via their mobile phone. The state government is also preparing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for offline penalty collection. The implementation of a QR-code-based door-to-door waste collection system is under consideration, where each household would have a QR code, and waste collectors would scan the code after collecting the waste each day.