Number of mask violators rise up by 18% in a month

In the past one month, the number of violators fined by clean-up marshals of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has increased by 18 percent. Earlier on February 2, the BMC marshals had fined a total of 12,498 recovering Rs 24.99 lakh in fine amount. While on March 3, the marshals had fined total 15,286 violators. Thus recovering Rs 3.05 lakhs. The daily average of cases has also gone up to 636 from 520 cases in the past one month. Senior civic officials said the rise in the number of cases is a result of deploying more marshals in the city.

"By end of this month, the numbers could rise up to 25 percent if Mumbaikars don't adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour," said a senior official of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department. The SWM department has been assigned to carry out the task of fining marshals.

Further, the official said at present more than 2,500 cleanup marshals have been deployed across the 24 municipal wards. He added that more marshals have been deputed in the areas which record heavy footfall during the peak hours.

"The areas Dadar, Andheri, Borivli, and Mumbai Central record heavy footfall throughout the day as most of these areas are in the vicinity of railway junctions," the official mentioned.

As per the data, a maximum number of violators are fined daily from the Andheri West followed by Kurla and Asalpha in the Eastern suburbs.

On average, more than 1,000 violators are fined from Andheri and Borivli daily.

Assistant municipal commissioner and in charge of Borivli ward - Bhagyashree Kapse told most of the violators are caught during the peak hours.

"More than 70 per cent of the violators are fined at the station areas during morning and afternoon, the violators are mostly commuters travelling to Mumbai for work from satellite cities," Kapse told FPJ.

Alongside these points, the civic marshals have also asked its marshals to keep a vigilant eye on the open spaces like Marine Drive Promenade and Bandra Bandstand. The marshals said that more than 300 violators are fined from these areas on a regular basis.