Mumbai: Over 15 lakh caught without masks since April 2020

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mumbai civic body has caught over 15 lakh people without face masks at public places in Mumbai since April 2020 and collected over Rs. 30 crore as fine from them, officials said on Wednesday.

Out of these offenders, 13,008 were caught on Monday, and Rs. 26,01,600 in fines was collected from them, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

Concerned over the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday asked citizens to strictly follow government-mandated guidelines on masks and social distancing or be prepared to face another round of lockdown.

The BMC has been imposing a fine of Rs. 200 for not wearing a face mask in public places.

"From April 1, 2020 to February 15 this year, the BMC caught 15,16,398 people without face masks and collected a total of Rs. 30,69,09,800 from them," civic officials said.

As per the BMC data, the highest number of 1,08,069 people were caught without face masks in Mumbai's K-West ward, which includes areas like Juhu, Andheri (West) and Versova.

"Of late, the city has been witnessing a spike in daily COVID-19 cases, and some civic wards have issued letters to housing societies under their jurisdiction and instructed them to follow the COVID-19 guidelines," a civic official said.

The notice said the sealing of buildings/ societies having a high prevalence of positivity has started in the M-west ward.

"If the same is observed in your society, the same restrictions with sealing can be imposed in your society," the notice warned.

In the notice, the civic body also instructed housing societies to restrict the entry of outsiders to minimum, including domestic helps and milk delivery persons.

"Any other symptomatic person in the society should also get checked for the coronavirus infection," it added.