No masks: 2,226 challans issued by Jalandhar police in 40 days

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 14

To contain the rising Covid cases, the city police have issued 2,226 challans in the last 40 days for breach of safety protocols. An amount of Rs22,24,500 has also been accumulated from the same.

People were mainly challaned for not wearing masks and spitting in public places. Surprisingly, while people gave two hoots to social distancing norms, which has become the order of the day, not even a single challan was issued for the same.

Likewise, as people have been complaining against the hike in fares by auto-rickshaw drivers, who barely adhere to limited passenger rule, there weren’t any challans related to overcrowded auto-rickshaws and two or four-wheelers.

In addition, considering Covid offences, no challans were issued against violation of home quarantine instructions and violation of public gatherings.

The figures obtained from the Commissioner of Police (CP) office further states that in February, total challans issued for not wearing masks were 899, for which Rs8,99,000 was the total fine collected.

Similarly, between March 1 and March 12, as many as 1,327 challans were issued, including three for spitting in public areas and penalty worth Rs13,25,500 was collected for these 12 days.

The cops on duty said residents’ behaviour towards the coronavirus outbreak remains casual.

Following the directions of the state government, the police have intensified its challan drive. While the penalty for not wearing a mask is Rs1,000, Rs500 is charged for spitting in public places. The state government is battling the sudden surge in Covid cases on a war footing, prompting even the Education Department to shut schools.

Apart from the police personnel, the administration has also authorised all sector magistrates, tehsildars, naib tehsildars, BDPOs and executive officers of Municipal Committees to challan residents for violation of guidelines issued under the Epidemic Disease Act, said ADC General Jasbir Singh.

In the initial months of Covid outbreak and its peak, between April and September, as many as 42,602 people were challaned for not wearing face masks in the city and an amount of Rs2.06 crore was collected as fine from them.

Ensure max inoculation in district, says DC

Jalandhar: After the vaccination capacity in all private and government healthcare establishments was augmented to 6,000 daily, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori on Sunday exhorted all eligible beneficiaries to make the drive a mega success by ensuring maximum inoculation in the district. Presiding over a meeting to review the current situation arising from the second Covid-19 wave, the DC said the vaccination was the only way to keep the virus spread under check, but it would only be possible with people’s participation. He said as many as 41 private and 13 government hospitals were providing vaccination facilities to beneficiaries, adding that all government-run primary health centres, community health centres and sub-divisional health centres would start these services from Monday. TNS

Promote vaccination drive & get felicitated

Jalandhar: Taking a step further in promoting the vaccination drive, the district administration has launched an initiative in which people can participate and win certificates from the administration. As part of the ‘Mission Fateh’, the administration has started a mass movement to scale up the vaccination drive. Now, people can participate by making a small video, not more than 90 minutes, which would target beneficiaries to come forward and get vaccinated. Best videos will be uploaded on the social media pages of the district administration and top video creators would be felicitated by the DC. In addition to that, the best performers will be honoured at the district-level Independence Day celebrations. TNS