BMC collected over ₹31 crore in fine for violation of face mask rule since March last year

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has collected ₹31.79 crore between March 2020 and February 19 from 15.71 lakh offenders who violated the mandatory face mask rule.

The municipal corporation had made wearing masks or covering the face mandatory in public places in April 2020 due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai. Violation of the rule attracts a fine of ₹200.

With a spurt in new coronavirus infections across Maharashtra, the civic body has issued new preventive guidelines and once again intensified the drive to penalise those found without face masks.

According to BMC data, a total of 13,592 people were penalised on February 19 and ₹27,18,000 was collected from them.

The state government has deployed marshals to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing at public and religious places, said Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Friday.

According to BMC guidelines, marshals will be deployed in suburban trains to take action against those travelling without masks.

It has also been decided to double the number of clean-up marshals, who can impose a fine on those who do not wear a mask in public, from 2,400 to 4,800.

According to the health department, Maharashtra reported 6,112 new COVID-19 cases, 2,159 discharges, and 44 deaths in the last 24 hours. Total cases in the state stand at 20,87,632, including 19,89,963 recoveries, 44,765 active cases and 51,713 deaths.

In light of this, 1,305 buildings were sealed by the BMC on Saturday after the city recorded 2,749 Covid-19 cases. A total of 71,838 households reside in these buildings.

To curb the virus spread, several districts in Maharashtra have announced lockdowns.

While Mumbai's mayor had earlier stated that a lockdown will not be implemented in the state, BMC had said that any residential buildings with over five active cases of coronavirus would be sealed.