This Video Shows Why You Should Not Spit In Public Places

In India, public places are often marred with spit stains caused by pan or chewing tobacco products. Not only do these stains cause uncleanliness but they are also very difficult to clean. As a result, sanitation workers have to struggle hard to clean them. This adds to the workload of already overworked and poorly compensated sanitation workers. Additionally, cleaning spit stains can expose sanitation workers to biohazards, especially considering that they rarely get basics like gloves or masks. Despite appeals against maintaining cleanliness and penalising spitting in public places, many still continue with careless spitting.

Now, a video is going viral that shows a worker struggling to clean a spot of spit stains. A person who is recording her from a distance walks up to the woman and asks her how she feels about cleaning the spit stains. The woman says that despite telling people not to do it, she always gets spit stains. She adds that since cleaning them is a part of her job, she is forced to do it time and again. The person recording the video says that hopefully after he shares this video, people will be sensitised to not spit in public places. It appears that this video was taken at a railway station.

IAS officer Awanish Sharan shared the video with his X followers on March 27. So far, this clip has over one lakh views. Commenting on it, a user wrote, “Please spread love, Appreciation, awareness, not Gandegi…(filth)”. Another person suggested that strict enforcement of rules can mitigate the problem of keeping public places clean and noted, “Sir, we don’t spit at foreign countries (fear of jail & fine) Action Points for your consideration 1. Install cameras. 2. catch offenders. 3. Fine 1K / jail for one day. Make the offender clean instantly 4. Give the money to these ladies. 6. Done. Jai ho Jai hind.”

Back in May 2022, Sharan shared a photo that showed a plane tainted with what appeared to be betel nut stains near the plane’s window. For a long time, airports and airplanes were deemed clean and free of betel nut stains in comparison to bus stands or railway stations.

In the comments, many people urged the authorities to find the person who might have done this by matching the seat number with the flight’s passenger list. Making this point, a person said, “By checking the seat no., the passenger should be banned from travelling by air.”