‘Insensitive’: Day after dhol-nagaras used to shame garbage-dumping in public, Congress, AAP councillors slam MC move

“Issuing a challan (fine) is the only appropriate and legal method. Municipal officials must understand that every individual has their own dignity, and insulting anyone in this manner is neither socially right nor legally justified,” he said in a statement.

The AAP councillor further stated that to improve cleanliness, the civic body needs to increase awareness, strengthen the penalty system, and work on solid waste management, instead of publicly embarrassing any citizen.

Earlier, Congres’s Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Bunty had also criticised the move, saying: “Don’t embarrass people, tell them quietly not to throw garbage in the open”.

“If you want Chandigarh to go further up in the cleanliness ranking, why do it by embarrassing residents. I condemn this decision of going to their place with dhol, nagaras and shaming them. Rather, the civic officials should go there quietly and tell them not to throw garbage. This is not done. The decision should be taken back,” Bunty had said.

According to the Municipal Corporation (MC) officials, residents have been encouraged to photograph or film individuals throwing garbage in open areas and submit to the MC app, along with location details. Informants would be awarded Rs 250 for every verified report.

The MC appealed to residents to refrain from dumping waste in public places, emphasising proper segregation and disposal of garbage only in designated corporation-operated vehicles.

On Tuesday, till the filing of the report, no one was challaned or publicly shamed.

The teams were on duty till 11 pm.

On Monday, two families in Manimajra received an unusually loud wake-up call when Chandigarh MC officials arrived at their homes with dhol and nagaras, not for a celebration, but to return the garbage they had dumped in public and hand them challans of Rs 13,401 each.

In what the civic body called its first “name-and-shame” initiative against littering, officials said the drive was triggered by neighbours who filmed the offenders tossing rubbish in open spaces and shared the clips on the MC’s publicised WhatsApp number.

One video captured a woman throwing garbage near her residence at a public place, another showed a man discreetly dropping a packed bundle of waste at a public spot until a neighbour’s camera caught him in the act.