BMC jumps into 'Clean India' act: Will cancel licenses of shops that litter

To take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated a new plan to help keep the city clean. From now on all shopkeepers and especially restaurant owners found dumping garbage and waste around their establishments or on the streets, and offending neighboring outlets will have their licenses cancelled. [caption id=“attachment_1785149” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] According to a Mumbai Mirror report, officials from the Shop and Establishment department completed a 10-day survey across the city to check the arrangements made by establishments to dispose of the garbage generated. The municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte pressurized the department to take up the survey at the earliest possible. Arvind Gosavi, inspector, Shop and Establishment department told the Mirror, “We have asked shopkeepers to keep a garbage bin in front of their shop and ensure that the area remains clean. It is the shopkeepers’ responsibility to dump the garbage collected at the local garbage collection centre. If the shopkeeper fails to do so, he will invite punishment under Section 39 of the Shop and Establishment Act. Violating this section could result in the licence being revoked, and he may not be able to run the establishment in future.” But the Federation for Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) has termed this drive, “harsh” and “not practical”. According to the report, FRTWA has written to Kunte and BMC officials. After Narendra Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a month ago, on 2 October, several known personalities and celebrities have taken up the broom to show their support. Actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Sania Mirza used Twitter to post pictures and videos of them cleaning the streets. on 30 October Bachchan tweeted “And before the finale .. it was ‘Swach Bharat Abhiyaan’ .. went on the streets and broomed and collected dirt to clean up the place.” Sania Mirza tweeted, “My step towards making A Swatch Bharat. I nominate @iamsrk @Riteishd @KTRTRS @DipikaPallikal @Pvsindhu1 @SomdevD @Abhinav_Bindra and Sajid Khan..Let’s make India a clean country,” along with a video. She also nominated eight other people to keep the chain continuing. Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Aamir Khan are few of the  film personalities have contributed to the PM’s mission. Apart from Bollywood actors, businessmen Anil Ambani, cleaned a part of the street outside Church Gate station in Mumbai, and nominated Amitabh Bachchan, Mary Kom and Nagarjuna, to take up the challenge, reports Times of India.  PM Modi on 2 October,  nominated 8 distinguished personalities to clean up a part of their cities/towns and post before and after pictures. They were from various fields including  the cast of ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma’ to be part of  the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. He asked each of them to nominate 9 others to keep the chain moving, reports ZEE News.