The city of  Leicester in Britain, which has a huge number of Indian-origin people, is cracking down on people's habit of spitting paan in public places after receiving complaints that, the footpaths are being stained.

The Officials at Leicester City Council are planning to impose a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) against the paan spitting in public places, as the local council think that, the habit of spitting out the residue has got out of control. The move aims to try to stop the spitting on parts of the Belgrave Road and Melton Road. This place is known as the Golden Mile because a huge number of  jewellery shops owned by Gujarati-origin businessmen from India.

A city council spokesman said that,  “We are aware of this problem, which is unhygienic and leaves unsightly stains on pavements. We are looking at including paan-spitting in a future city-wide Public Spaces Protection Order, which would give us more powers to tackle it.”

“Our cleansing teams went out last year at the request of ward councillors, and used anti-graffiti spray equipment to remove paan stains from walls and dustbins. But it’s not an easy task,” he added.

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Hindustan Times reported that, Brent Council spokesman said that,  “The police are acting against paan-spitting. However, the area is geographically too large to permanently cover all the known hotpots, and perpetrators are reluctant to spit in front of uniformed officers.”

“In 2013, public health functions were been brought under council control. As a result, there are plans to re-launch the campaign with a greater focus on raising awareness on the health risks of chewing tobacco paan and offering practical support to help chewers quit,” he added.

Nandini