Garlands for People Publicly Urinating, but Is That the Solution?

Hyderabad Police tried painting walls to prevent public urination, to no avail. Now there’s a new approach.

They tried applying a fresh coat of paint on the walls, then they painted religious symbols, but nothing seemed to work. People in Hyderabad were using walls in public spaces for urination anyway.

That’s when 56-year-old Mahankali traffic Inspector Rama Swamy came up with the idea of a ‘Shame Garland’ campaign.

While serving as a cop in Delhi, he had observed a few NGOs garlanding men who were urinating on the footpath in order to create awareness about public urination. When the Telangana police promoted the concept of ‘People Friendly Police’, the traffic inspector felt a ‘Shame Garland’ campaign would also work in Hyderabad.

With the approval of the traffic department, the campaign began on Thursday. Rama Swamy and two sub-inspectors stationed at the Secunderabad bus stop caught around 15 people on the first day of the campaign.

Public Shaming Real Solution?

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.

Rama Swamy, Mahankali traffic Inspector

The Mahankali traffic police team had previously distributed chocolates to two-wheeler riders who were wearing helmets.

But is publicly shaming people really the solution?

As a Hyderabadi, I appreciate the initiative of the traffic police but defaming people who urinate in public is not a right solution. The government should build public toilets.  Ours is a country which doesn’t give much attention to sanitation, especially in metro cities.

Rama Krishna, resident of Hyderabad

‘Traffic Cops Diverting Attention From Real Issue’

There are no sufficient public toilets in the city, and whatever toilets we have are not well maintained. Most of these toilets are occupied by street dwellers, many homeless people are using these toilets as shelter. People don’t know where public toilets are and there are hardly any for women.

Syed Shah Ali Hussani, social activist

Hussain said that while public shaming is not the solution, the Government should take some steps in constructing some toilets for the public so that they are not forced to urinate in public.

The government should have built public toilets instead of spending so much on these advertisements of Swacch Bharath and Swacch Hyderabad. From city college to Zoo park, it’s a 4 km stretch and it doesn’t even have a single public toilet. I feel the traffic cops are shifting the focus and not solving the problem. Instead of garlanding people they should force government to build public toilets.