A day in the life of a ‘good morning squad’ of Pune municipal corporation

On October 6, the role of the Good Morning Squads had come into question when zilla parishad CEO Rajendra Bharud of Chikmahud village of Solapur district had caught some women openly defecating and reportedly garlanded them to shame them, later sending the pictures to mediapersons. As the incident became known, Bharud had claimed it was the handiwork of the Good Morning Squad and not him. The state government has ignored demands to take action against him.

As his staff starts calling the nine people yet to arrive, Dhanvat explains, “The objective of ODF (open defecation free) can only be achieved through team work. It can’t be done by an individual. Though the members have specific areas to focus on, the squad moves in a group.”

He has an attendance sheet open on his mobile phone which he is meanwhile updating. “We have to submit a report daily to the department head,” he says. Sighing, he adds that the woman member won’t be joining them today as she has sought leave.

Dhanvat also realises just then that a four-wheeler is not available, and hence the team will have to travel on their own two-wheelers.

Five more members finally arrive, and the team discusses the route for the day. The Hadapsar-Mudhwa ward is too big to be covered in a single morning, and hence they go to different areas. As they leave, one of them picks up a thick bamboo stick lying in the security cabin in the ward office.

“It is necessary to create fear among people relieving themselves in the open. But we normally have to just shout or whistle to get people to run away,” says a squad member, Isak Shaikh, 36. Exactly at 6 am, the squad sets off, two on each motorcycle, following each other.The first destination is the slum area of Davri Nagar, where they don’t find anyone openly defecating. “The slum-dwellers used to relieve themselves alongside the road parallel to a canal. The civic body has ensured now that each slum has its own toilet,” says Dhanvat.

The PMC has constructed 19,400 individual toilets and 800 community toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
While Dhanvat is still talking, he spots some waste, and adds that people find it impossible to give up old habits.

He directs the sanitation inspector of the area, Shanker Jagtap, who is part of the squad, to keep a closer watch. “Sir, I have been able to convince the slum-dwellers to construct their own toilet with the PMC’s help. We’ve addressed the problem largely, but for a few incidents. People complain that old people and children are not comfortable using the toilet so they defecate in the open,” the inspector replies, while assuring he will increase vigil in the area.

The squad next heads towards a ground in Kale Padal, 6 km away. A civic staff member is already at the ground with a long bamboo stick, to prevent people from defecating in the area covered with tall grass. Two youngsters approach the squad, claiming that while they have managed to convince people to use a newly constructed toilet, the unhygenic conditions around it are a problem.

“The entrance is in a bad condition, and it is difficult for us to make people use it,” the two say, asking the squad members to do something about it.

Around 7 am, the squad reaches Taljai hills near Sasane Nagar, where the Gliding Centre of Pune (GCP) is located in a large open ground. Thousands are taking a walk in the area in the wee hours. “We have almost stopped open defecation alongside the wall of the Gliding Centre and painted it with social messages,” says Dhanvat. But even as he is talking, a man approaches the wall with a bucket full of water and looks around for space in the bushes.
The members of the squad rush to get hold of him. Grabbing him by his neck from the back, they question him about what he is trying to do. “We will penalise you if we find you trying to defecate in the open again,” they warn the 24-year-old after getting his details and asking him to empty his bucket. The young man tells the team that he is an employee at a nearby restaurant and stays in the same premises. He adds that he is not comfortable using the toilet in the restaurant, and so defecates in the open.

Dhanvat joins the members who are still holding the man and says the Gliding Centre is owned by the Union government and so the PMC staff does not have much say over its premises.

Around 7.45 am, a few members of the squad take a tea break on the street outside the Gliding Centre compound, while others huddle under a tree to keep an eye out for any more people defecating in the open. Dhanvat is reassured by what he is seeing. “The number of such people is very less compared to the previous years. We had to take the help of local leaders earlier,” he says.

As the squad heads towards Krushna Nagar in Mundhwa, Dhanvat talks about how the hill slope alongside the forest land there is used for open defecation. Later, they catch one man climbing up the hill to relieve himself.
Dhanvat reprimands the person. “It is because of people like you that diseases spread. You should be aware of this. The PMC will take action against you if you don’t change,” he warns the man, before letting him return to his shanty in the adjoining slums.

By then news has spread among the other slumdwellers that the Good Morning Squad is roaming the area, and a few of them, who could be seen heading towards the hill with water in bottles and buckets, quietly return.
Dhanvat believes people are scared because they move in a group, and in uniform. “Or it is difficult to stop people. They threaten the civic staff if found alone and it has happened in Krushna Nagar before.”
He refrains from commenting on the controversy over women being garlanded in Solapur, but notes that women defecating in open are caught only by the women member of the squad. “We have punished the men caught defecating in open by asking them to do sit-ups,” Dhanvat adds.

It’s 10 am, and time to call off the Good Morning Squad rounds for the day. The members remind Dhanvat of this, but he spots one last thing to do. Seeing a group of government school students walking by, he stops them to make them take a pledge to keep the city clean and to create awareness.

Later, jumping onto the pillion seat of a motorcycle being driven by a member of the squad, he says, contentedly, “The best way to change things is to create awareness among children.”
The five motorcycles travel some distance together, and then the squad members disperse in different directions, saying they will reach office after completing their other duties for the day.