With the year’s Commonwealth Games in mind, various civic bodies in the city plan to initiate awareness drives and harsher anti-littering measures to ensure that citizens play their part in keeping the city clean during the mega event.

According to officials, the NDMC plans to distribute awareness pamphlets and make public announcements to inform the citizens about their duty towards cleanliness. The civic body has put up advertisements in areas under its jurisdiction asking people to keep the city clean. Like its earlier cleanliness drives, NDMC also has announced penalty for civic offenders.

The health and welfare department officials, however, admit that penal provisions are not enough to deter littering and spitting. “People usually throw garbage on roads from their cars and drive away. There should be provision to alert the traffic police so that such offenders can be caught and fined,” said Rajender Singh, Deputy Commissioner, MCD. Singh is in-charge of improving sanitation standards in all six zones of the civic body.

The MCD has also been framing a bylaw to prevent littering, spitting and urinating in public. “The bylaw will involve higher fines for civic offenders, which will be handed out on the spot,” Mayor Kanwar Sain said.