“Mirror mirror on the wall, stop people from peeing on the wall.” Well, this alteration of Snow White’s famous dialogue is not us but on Bengaluru civic body. Despite several public toilets built by the government around the country, we find lots of people making walls on the streets their emergency toilets for peeing.
So, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), decided to try something new and savage to tackle the problem of public urination. Accordingly, they have put up mirrors on walls in different parts of the city to shame people who pee on the street, reports TNIE.
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A popular stinky spot at the compound wall of ESI Hospital in Indiranagar has been covered with eight feet by four feet mirror. Until now two more mirrors have been installed in the city. The civic body plans to install a couple of more in other parts as well.
Moreover, a QR code has also been stuck on the mirrors so that people can scan them to locate the nearest public toilets in the area. “We have decided to publicly shame such people (who urinate in the open). I feel installing a mirror is a great idea,” BH Anil Kumar, BBMP Commissioner told Bengaluru Mirror.
“Bengaluru’s IT capital image is marred by black spots and people urinating in public. The stink emanating from some footpaths where people urinate is so bad, that people avoid walking here and instead walk on the road. We have tried every trick in the book to stop them but have failed miserably. To begin with, we had warned them by saying that they will be penalised. But no one heeded these warnings. Fines didn’t seem to be a deterrent too,” another BBMP official said.
Earlier pictures of gods and goddesses were stuck on the walls and CCTV cameras were installed to stop people from urinating in public but all in vain. “We feel that a mirror will be a great idea to deter people from peeing in public. When they see themselves about to create ‘nuisance’, we hope they will stop,” the official added.
Each mirror costs around Rs. 2 lakh and can be moved around or be fixed at spot depending upon the choice and need. Talking about how the organization came up with a unique idea, Anil Kumar said, “We had a lot of brainstorming sessions during the Swach Sarvekshan meetings. Our main agenda was to put an end to public urination. So, our creative team was given the task to come up with innovative ideas and one of them suggested that we use mirrors.”
Most of the officials believe these mirrors will help them make Bengaluru a cleaner city. Do you feel the same? Tell us!