Bhubaneswar: Acting swiftly on the violators of COVID-19 guidelines, the Zonal Deputy Commissioner (ZDC) of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Wednesday collected a fine of Rs 8,000 from 40 persons who were found roaming outside without wearing masks.
On April 9 the Health and Family Welfare department in its notification number 9695 made it mandatory for all citizens to wear masks to cover nose and mouth with any available form of cover while coming out of their houses for any purpose. The notification has also included a handkerchief or any other clean piece of cloth with at least two layers can be worn in order to keep the virus at bay.
BMC’s team led by senior officer Ashok Beuria caught the people and collected the penalty. The H&FW department and the BMC has declared that while Rs 200 each could be collected from a person for three initial offences, Rs 500 would be collected for further offences as per the rule under the Odisha COVID-19 (Amendment) Regulations and power conferred under the Sections 2 and 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
ZDC North Zone Pramod Kumar Prusty said, “Citizens should behave responsibly as the COVID-19 pandemic has already spread its tentacles across the globe. As the healthcare experts from WHO and ICMR are advocating for the use of masks to fight the coronavirus, we will nab the violators who are not wearing masks and putting public safety at stake.”