At least 10 people were caught after the campaign was launched.

The Ranchi Municipal Corporation has resorted to naming and shaming with just few days left for October 2 open defecation free (ODF) deadline in urban areas,. Last Sunday the municipality launched “halla bol, lungi khol” campaign. Next day, the administration changed this to “halla bol, khule mein shauch karne waale ko door le jaa ke chhod (those who defecate in the open areas must be taken and dropped far away)”, Indian Express said. on Sunday itself the adminitration caught at least ten persons defecting in the open.

As per the report, those ten people were asked to hand over their lungis to the RMC “enforcement” teams. There lungis were only returned only after they pledged not to defect in open again. Those caught were also made to pay fine of Rs 100 each. Last Monday, those who caught, were picked up, dropped some distance away, and made to walk back home only after taking the pledge. The idea is to make them realise that defecating in the open could led them embarrassment, an official told the paper.

“It is just a part of the entire exercise. We have constructed toilets. Water supply is being provided wherever required. There may be shortcomings here and there. On the other hand, we have to raise awareness. For this, we have run concerted drives telling people why they should not defecate in the open. Like a drive by the traffic police to wear helmets, we first raised awareness, then imposed fine, and are now trying some of these methods. This is not aimed at harassing people. The idea is to create some sort of deterrence,” Jharkhand Urban Development Minister C P Singh, who is also the Ranchi MLA, told Indian Express.