BILASPUR: Now defecate in open and be ready to be whisked away and dropped to city outskirts as punishment. In a unique punishment to the violators of ODF call Bilaspur civic authorities on Saturday caught 28 people from open fields and stuffed them into cattle carriage vans and dropped them some 9kms away on the city outskirts.It is learnt that the Bilaspur Municipal Corporation 's Swachh Bharat monitoring team rounded up 28 people defecating near Arpa river and left them at Kanan Pandari road as a punishment.The monitoring-drive took place on Saturday at five o clock and besides these 28 people another set of 22 people, who were also caught for defecating in open were fined Rs 100. Three women who were not carrying cash were handover to police.Others, who had no cash were forced to sit in a cattle-catcher van The civic body has formed a team of 200 officials including women home-guards to keep check on open-defecation in Bilaspur city. But their punitive actions have come under sharp criticism.President of Youth Congress Bilaspur Vidhansabha Shiva Naidu said that BMC officials are resorting to inhuman treatment in the name of Swachh Bharat campaign.Civic officials are forcing them to do sit-ups and are carried to off far away from their homes.Naidu alleged that male workers of BMC are catching women doing open defecation and this is leading to a wide resentment among people.Last week Raipur city's mayor Pramod Dubey also punished a resident asking him to do squats for defecating in open.Social workers and activists defined it as a violation of human rights. Talking to TOI, activist and social worker Mamta Sharma said, "Instead of making people feel offended and ashamed they should be encouraged to change their habit by creating awareness. The administrative authorities need to check their ways and adopt 'smart ways' before lying the foundation of Smart Cities."Bilaspur Municipal Corporation's senior official Mithilesh Awasthi said, "To attain the object of Swachh Bharat Mission our monitoring teamm have pleaded with people not to defecate in open, especially truck drivers in transporters area and regions where migrant labourers, workers and kin of patients admitted in government hospitals come from outside.We have also issued several free cards for using the public toilets free-of-cost to underprivileged sections," he said.The officer denied that people caught defecating were dropped at the outskirts as punishment.

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