Udupi: In a bid to stop open defecation and to realise its aim of making Udupi an open defecation-free city, the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) resorted to an act of ‘gandhigiri’.

On Tuesday, eight teams of the CMC visited eight colonies in the city from 5 am to 8.30 am and garlanded people who were out to answer nature’s call, thereby encouraging them in a pleasant way to stop open defecation.

The teams explained to the residents the importance of using individual or public toilets and also about various diseases that could spread through open defecation.

However, the CMC has been thinking of imposing fines on those found defecating in open, but it first gave the idea of Gandhigiri a try.

In a press release issued by the CMC here on Wednesday, the Council said that the initiative was taken up under the Swachh Bharat Mission to make Udupi an “open defecation free” city by October 2016.

The government was providing financial assistance for the construction of individual toilets. People not having toilets should contact the CMC office for getting this financial assistance.