Garland of shame: Hyderabad police launches unique drive against public urination

The next time any person attempts urinating in public on Hyderabad roads, he can expect a unique reward from the police: Garlanding.
Fed up with the menace of urination in public places, the city police have come up with a novel idea of shaming such people without resorting to any coercive measures. "Whenever we notice someone relieving himself on road side corners or footpaths, we immediately approach him and greet him with a garland. We then humbly request the offender not to create nuisance in public and use the public toilets instead," a traffic inspector T Ramaswamy said.

Image Courtesy: CNN-IBN News/Twitter
He, along with his colleagues Ramanaiah and Kotaiah started this unique "Gandhigiri" to check urination in public. "We are hopeful that this initiative will promote awareness about Swatch Bharat drive and check the misuse of public space," said Ramaswamy (56) who first took the initiative under Mahankali police station limits in Secunderabad.
The policeman said he was inspired by a similar experiment launched in New Delhi a couple of years back. "I wanted to make people aware about the ill-effects of urinating in public. As a part of friendly policing, we started this initiative of garlanding the offenders," he said.
"When I was in Delhi, I had observed a few NGOs garlanding men who were urinating on the footpath. This was to create awareness against urination in public. When the Telangana police promoted the concept of 'People Friendly Police', I felt a 'Shame Garland' campaign would also work in Hyderabad," the inspector said.
On the first day of the campaign itself, Ramaswamy and his colleagues caught 15 people who were found relieving themselves at a bus stop in Secunderabad. "We garlanded them and told them about the need to use toilets. We got a good response as people felt guilty and promised us that they will not repeat it. We are strictly monitoring people at the Mahankali bus stop and nearby areas. This is a contribution to 'Swacch Bharat' campaign from the Telangana Police," Ramaswamy said.
The Mahankali traffic police team had, in the past, distributed chocolates to two-wheeler riders for not wearing helmets.
"This is a good move by the traffic police. However, this must be supplemented by construction of more number of public toilets so that we can keep our roads clean," said S Ramakrishna, an NGO activist from Secunderabad.