Officials and experts say a mask is the best bet one can have against the coronavirus.
BMC officials deployed to fine people without masks, at the Worli sea face, on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje
With an anti-COVID vaccine still months away, the BMC says more and more citizens are becoming careless by ignoring the use of masks.
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Between November 14 and December 13, civic officials collected a fine of R7.33 crore from 3.66 lakh maskless citizens. The figures are a cause for concern considering that the BMC had fined 3.17 lakh people from April 9 and November 13, collecting Rs 6.7 crore.
In initial days of lockdown, the BMC had imposed a penalty of R1,000 on those who flouted its mask rule. However, it went a bit easy until August 31 and collected only R27.48 lakh from 2,798 violators.
Officials and experts say a mask is the best bet one can have against the coronavirus. The BMC stepped up its efforts to discipline the masses after civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal reduced the fine to R200 and asked his team to take stringent action against those without masks in wearing a mask in public places like roads, markets
and gardens.
Though the move was aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of not wearing a mask, officials said, it has not shown the desired results. "People are just not ready to wear a mask. They give us various reasons. Many of them start arguing and even refuse to pay the fine," said one of the officials deployed to take action against violators.
On December 13, BMC teams fined 12,071 people across the city. Most of the maskless — 889 citizens — were found in K east ward (Andheri E and Vile Parle E), followed by 830 from A ward (Colaba, Churchgate) and 809 from L ward (Kurla).
Additional Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, "Even after people get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19, a mask along with frequent hand washing and maintaining social distancing will be necessary for protection. There are vaccines available for many diseases but none wiped out the risk of transmission."
International experts too have stressed the need for masks. They say even vaccinated people may act as silent spreaders of the virus.
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