Telangana cracks down on those not wearing masks

Naveen S Garewal 
Tribune News Service 
Hyderabad, April 12

Even as the COVID-19 cases see a sharp rise in Telangana, people refuse to obey the mandatory requirement of wearing a mask. As a result, the police have stepped up booking people for endangering the lives of others under the Disaster Management Act. So far in the past week, 6,478 persons have been booked for not wearing masks.  

Besides other possible legal action for habitual offenders, the violators have to immediately pay a fine of Rs 1,000. In view of facing a possible lockdown due to the second wave,  Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had ordered to observe a strict mask policy in his direction on March 27. 

The Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar had advised people travelling alone in cars also to mandatorily wear a mask, citing the Delhi High Court orders.  

Giving details the police spokesperson said three urban Commissionerates’—Hyderabad, Rachakonda and Cyberabad—registered 3,214 cases, with Hyderabad leading with 2,030 offenders, followed by Rachakonda and Cyberabad with 670 and 514 offenders, respectively.  

The semi-urban Commissionerates’ of Ramagundam, Warangal, Khammam, Nizamabad, Siddipet and Karimnagar recorded 1,374 cases. Narayanpet district in the state has recorded zero cases.  

Wearing a face mask is mandatory in all public places, workspaces and means of transport. A Government Order (GO) related to the penalty was issued by Chief Secretary K Somesh Kumar on Sunday. Besides a penalty, the GO also warned the offenders of prosecution under Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as other applicable laws.