As markets open, police fine Covid rules violators
NEW DELHI: On Monday, the Day One of a gradual unlocking process in the national capital after over a month-and-a-half long (51 days, to be precise) lockdown, Delhi Police fined 1,053 persons for not wearing masks, 229 for not adhering to social distancing norms and three persons for holding large gatherings.
Police said while metal barricades were removed from roads on Monday to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic, their teams still checked vehicles, and patrolled the markets and busy roads to ensure social distancing norms were followed.
On Saturday afternoon, two days before the lockdown norms were eased, all police stations were directed to form teams to conduct checks at market places.
The Delhi District Management Authority(ddma) has allowed markets to open from Monday with shops directed to open on an “odd-even” basis while standalone shops can open on all days. “Our police commissioner has directed all district deputy commissioners(dcps) to devise non-coercive methods and take steps to ensure normalcy while ensuring social distancing. All police stations have been asked to be in touch with market welfare associations and vendors. All shops that are open have been directed to have sanitisers ready and ensure that there is no crowding. Senior police officers are also monitoring the activities on the ground,” said DCP Chinmoy Biswal, who is also the Delhi Police spokesperson.
On June 12, there is another meeting of the police brass, in which they will review the Covid-19 violation by citizens during the first five days after the lockdown norms were relaxed.
Based on the review, each district will present a plan on how to ensure that citizens followed Covid appropriate behaviour.
The government had clamped a lockdown in the national capital on April 19, to control the spread of Covid-19, as Delhi was reporting over 25,000 Covid-19 cases daily at that time, with a daily positivity rate -- samples that came positive among the total tested — of over 30%. This meant that one in every three persons who were tested for Covid, was positive for the infection.
During the lockdown from April 19 to June 7, police issued 104,440 fines for mask violations, 18,034 for violation of social distancing norms, and 1,529 for holding large congregations. All large public gatherings are still banned in the national capital.