Additional Municipal Commissioner (city) R A Rajeev said that he has written a letter to the Joint Commissioner Of Police (law and order) K L Prasad in this regard.

“We have received positive response from the police, and Prasad has assured that a letter will be sent to all police stations for supporting the clean-up marshalls,” Rajeev said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had appointed private security guards to implement the sanitation and cleanliness bye-laws in November last year. However, there were cases of people refusing to pay the fine and misbehaving with the marshalls.

Rajeev said that by considering the marshalls as ‘public-servants’ police can take action under Section 186 of the Indian Penal Code.

“After being considered as public servants, clean-up marshalls will not hesitate in taking action against offenders, since anyone obstructing their work will be dealt with by the police,” he said.