23 January,2019 09:39 AM IST | Mumbai | Anamika Gharat
The shocking sight of runners relieving themselves on the sea link
For the approximately 40,000 people running the Mumbai Marathon, one of the biggest privileges is access to the out-of-bounds-to-pedestrians sea link. So, imagine their disgust when the stunning view of the bay was marred by a bunch of men urinating into the Arabian Sea.
A furious runner, Shweta Samota, decided she had had enough. She photographed the men in action this time and has started an online petition to stop this practice. The petition is intended to stop runners from urinating in the open and create more awareness about the issue. She intends to submit a petition copy to the event owner - Procam International - once a decent number of signatures are obtained. "I want Procam to take action against the offending runners by probably banning them for a year," her petition reads.
The event sees thousands of participants every year, some coming in from around the world. Pic/Bipin Kokate
She claimed that at least 100 such offenders have been spotted. "I was a participant in the marathon and suddenly saw everyone moving to one side on the sea link only to soon realise that the reason was a long line of men peeing. They didn't even consider the women running on the same route. I started this petition because it's really sad to see educated men urinating in public on the sea link," said Samota.
"This happens every year so this time I decided to click pictures," she added. Despite PM Narendra Modi's appeal for a 'Swachh Bharat' and the organisers providing for public toilets on the marathon route, these men didn't think twice before peeing on the sea link, Samota alleged.
Shweta Samota
The marathon organisers definitely need to brief the runners about this and instruct their volunteers to guide the runners or put up some instruction boards, she said. Another runner from Thane who Satej Shinde, has witnessed similar scenes in the last two years. "This is not new. The organisers should put up proper boards guiding people to the toilets. Also, someone should stop these people," Shinde said.
Dilip Jayaram, Chief Executive Officer at Procam International, the sports management company that owns the event, said that the marathon gets a huge response from across the world and this is not the image the world should see. "We have given a handbook to every runner in which we have detailed every arrangement. There were about 256 toilets at the venue apart from two women's air-conditioned container toilet. There were also 36 urinals along the route, and 20 washrooms for the differently-abled participants. So yes, we had enough arrangements in place, but the change needs to come from within."
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