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The mirror effect: How Mysuru cracked a 30-year-old public urination problem overnight
Mysuru City Corporation officials said the intervention relies on a simple yet effective human reflex.
In an overnight operation Tuesday, the Mysuru City Corporation installed five-foot-high reflective sheets along the entire 85-metre stretch of one of the city’s most notorious public urination spots. Express Photo
“If mirrors reflected our character instead of our faces, would you still be proud of what you see?”
For people who had used a stretch outside Mysuru’s KSRTC suburban bus stand as an open toilet for nearly 30 years, the question may now feel uncomfortably real. The reason: the city has installed mirrors along the wall.
Known as Karnataka’s cultural capital and a major tourist destination, Mysuru attracts lakhs of visitors every year. The city was also ranked third in the “Super Swachh League Cities” category alongside Chandigarh and Noida in 2024–25.
In an overnight operation Tuesday, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) installed five-foot-high reflective sheets along the entire 85-metre stretch of one of the city’s most notorious public urination spots. The area now resembles a public art installation more than a civic intervention.
Within 24 hours, officials recorded a 90 per cent drop in incidents of public urination, something that decades of campaigns, signboards, and railings had failed to deliver.
Speaking to The Indian Express, MCC Commissioner Shaikh Tanveer Asif said, “There is a public toilet near the KSRTC bus stand, but it was barely being used. We tried several measures, but none worked. Eventually, we came up with the idea of installing mirror-like sheets.”
An MCC official involved in the project said civic agencies and property owners had earlier tried installing religious tiles on walls to discourage public urination, but the method proved ineffective over time. “The tiles either break or fade away easily. In some cases, people steal these tiles. Eventually, we decided to install these reflective panels. The response has been very good,” the officer added.
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This is not the first time that such an idea has been executed in Bengaluru. The reflective panels were also installed in Bengaluru Church Street in 2020.
MCC officials said the idea works on a simple psychological principle that most people hesitate to urinate in front of a mirror.
Syed Ajmal, a taxi driver in Mysuru, said the initiative has made a noticeable difference.
“I spend most of my time near the KSRTC bus stand picking up customers. Earlier, the road was unbearable, but now it is much better. We had also complained to the MCC earlier and asked them to find a solution,” he said.
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Ajmal added that the corporation should build and maintain more public toilets to encourage people to use them instead of urinating on roadsides.
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