Navi Mumbai: NMMC announces to install spit bins citywide to discourage public spitting

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided to install spit bins across the city to prevent spitting habits on walls and public places. The civic body believes that the bin will solve the spitting worries and also save thousands of litre of water that are required to clean the stain.

As per the plan, the civic body will install at over 100 locations where the footfall is high like station areas, market premises and others.  

During Covid, the civic body had strictly implemented laws on public spitting and collected fines from violators. However, after Covid severity came down, the public spitting habit is widely seen.

According to a senior civic official, while there is a dedicated public washroom, smoking area, and public dustbin, there is no separate provision for public spitting. “In absence of a dedicated place, people having the habit of chewing tobacco or similar products spit wherever they find convenient, especially walls,” said an official from the Solid Waste Management department of NMMC. As per a study, at least one liter of water is required to clean a stain on the floor or wall. “One can understand the volume of water required to clean stains across the city,” said the official. In addition, it can also help in spreading various diseases like TB, Covid and flu.

Since the NMMC has been paying special attention to the Cleanliness Survey 2023, it has decided to make the surroundings clean. The official from Solid Waste Management (SWM) informed that the pink colour bin will have a plastic grate over it and a polythene plastic bag under it. “The plastic bags will be replaced routinely and there will be a net over the bin to prevent people dumping metal inside it,” said the official, adding that they will be installed in public places where there is a high footfall of people.

Susmitha Rajan, a Nerul resident says that the initiative is good but the civic body has to make adequate awareness among citizens to use the spit bins else they will turn into a waste of money.