New Delhi Launches No Peeing in Public Campaign

The Indian capital has launched a campaign to discourage urinating in public places–a common sight across the country.

The city of New Delhi, which is preparing to host the Commonwealth Games in October of next year, will soon be displaying large billboards along its gridlocked roads and on buses in a bid to embarrass those who urinate in public to end the practice, said Mayor Kanwar Sain.

The signs will feature three characters: Mr. Thu-Thu Kumar (the spitter), Mr. Kuda Kumar (the litterbug) and Mr. Su-Su Kumar (the person who pees in public).

“The capital of India must be clean. We see how clean are places like Singapore. Then, why not Delhi?” Sain said.

Authorities will launch a similar campaign on television and radio, he said.

Urinating, spitting and littering in public are acts punishable with a fine of $10 or more in New Delhi.

Deep Mathur, the spokesman for the city’s municipal corporation, said offenders had been prosecuted. He could not provide immediate figures about prosecutions aimed at sanitation control.

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Countrywide, India must build 112,000 toilets every day if it wants to meet its sanitation goal by 2012, according to the ministry of rural development.

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