Rs 18 crore collected as penalty for not wearing masks

NEW DELHI: During COVID-19 pandemic, Pune district administration has collected up to Rs 18 crore in cash penalties for not wearing facemask in public places since June 2020. This is when the penalty for not abiding by the rule of wearing mask in public places is much less than in cities like Delhi, where the fine has hiked to Rs 2,000 for each violation.

Till the present, police and city officials have caught approximately five lakh people for not wearing masks. Acccording to the data released by the Pune district administration, most of the violators come from the rural parts of the district, where the police played an active role amid pandemic.

Ayush Prasad, chief Executive Officer, Pune Zilla Parishad, said that in rural areas police, municipal and Gram Panchayat officials are diligently doing their work. As a result, even though the fine is lower than what was charged in cities, the act of penalising a violator has increased adherence and has helped lower the number of COVID-19 cases in the rural areas.