NEW DELHI: The enforcement officers of the New Delhi Municipal Council’s health department are having a tough time dealing with violators of coronavirus protocols. According to a municipal official, the staff issuing challans to people for not wearing masks in public places is often met with aggressive response. In fact, the situation gets out of hand at times and workers in the field have to seek police intervention, said an official.
According to the weekly report (September 26-October 2) compiled by the health department, more than 160 disputes were reported and the staff on Covid-19 duty had to visit the police station 26 times. The report says that the defaulters picked a quarrel with the enforcement team on 77 occasions and consequently, the municipal staff made 63 calls to the Police Control Room (PCR).
Interestingly, the municipal staff had to pay the fine from their pockets on six occasions after the defaulters refused to entertain the challans. “An FIR was registered against the violator after a dispute in Khanna Market-Lodi Garden area. It is unfortunate that most of the violations are from upscale localities. Sometimes, our staff has to deposit the penalty because once the details are lodged, it can’t be quashed,” said the official. In September, NDMC’s health department penalised 1,030 individuals for either not wearing masks or spitting in public places. Its enforcement teams also impose penalties.
It issued 527 challans in the previous month. Most of these violations have been reported from Connaught Place, Jor Bagh, Aurobindo Marg, and Prithviraj Road area. The team on enforcement duty at CP called the PCR 29 times and had to make visits to the police station on 20 occasions to seek the help of law enforcing agency. According to the report, 49 incidents of argument or fight with NDMC’s workers took place during the last one week.
The NDMC has deployed several teams at more than 20 locations to check violations related to coronavirus pandemic norms. “NDMC personnel dealing with the people who don’t wear masks are at risk of contracting the infection. There is a need to run a comprehensive awareness campaign to urge people to wear masks, in addition to running prosecution drives simultaneously,” said another NDMC official.
Upset with the daily ‘target’ for challans fixed by the higher authorities, several SDMs and senior Delhi government officials had conveyed similar concerns recently. The officials said that government resources should have been used rationally and more focus should be on awareness campaigns and free masks distribution.