BHUBANESWAR : The State government on Thursday cautioned private hospitals against overcharging patients and their relatives for treatment of Covid-19. “A vigil is being kept on private hospitals to check if they are charging exorbitant prices. If we come across any private hospital violating the rules, stringent action will be initiated,” said ADG Law and Order YK Jethwa in a press briefing of I&PR department.
The State government on April 19 had formed seven flying squads for Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and 15 others for remaining places in Odisha to check hoarding or black marketing of Covid-19 essential supplies. The flying squads comprising officers of Crime Branch and Special Task Force (STF) along with drug inspectors are keeping a watch on hoarding and black marketing of essentials.
Jethwa said in the last 15 days, around 1 lakh persons have been prosecuted for violation of Covid-19 guidelines and fine worth Rs 2.80 crore collected from them. As many as 71 cases have been registered, 269 violators apprehended and 8,300 vehicles seized across the State for violating the norms. The ADG urged citizens to follow lockdown/shutdown guidelines and not to unnecessarily gather at the vaccination centres and wait for their scheduled dates to receive the jabs.
Police Commissioner Saumendra Kumar Priyadarshi requested the citizens of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and asked them not to go out for morning or evening walks. “As per the lockdown guidelines, morning and evening walks and cycling have not been permitted. It has come to our notice that at many places people are coming out of their homes for morning and evening walks which is against the guidelines. I urge them not to come out on the roads,” he said. About 159 platoons of police force have been deployed in Odisha to enforce lockdown/shutdown.