BENGALURU: Amidst a slight increase in Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru, marshals have renewed their crackdown on those violating Covid-appropriate behaviour. Fifty-four teams, each comprising four members, have spread out across the city, and are monitoring people.
Gaurav Gupta, BBMP chief commissioner, said more marshals will be deployed to ensure stricter enforcement of safety norms. He said people should cooperate with marshals and follow rules.
However, Col Rajbir Singh, chief marshal, BBMP, said: “It is very difficult to make people understand social distancing. They say they are all from the same family or are friends. How do we dispute it? We are working on a plan and more marshals will be deployed soon. We will take things forward after consulting the chief commissioner.”
A senior marshal admitted people will not be happy with stricter enforcement, considering that there is already a lot of resentment amongst the public to marshals. “There is a need to spread more awareness and announcements should be made,” he said.
Another marshal agreed that awareness about Covid-appropriate behavior is key and messages should be sent out in Kannada, Hindi and English since people’s cooperation is vital to successfully implement safety norms.
However, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of people fined for violations.
“During the first wave of Covid infections, people were hesitant to follow Covid-appropriate behavior like wearing masks and following social distancing, and violations were high,” a BBMP official said. “But in the second wave, when the number of deaths increased, there was a sense of fear and everyone wore not one, but two masks.”
The BBMP had initially announced a fine of Rs 1,000 for first-time violators and Rs 2,000 for serial violators. However, the fine was reduced to Rs 200 in the wake of a public uproar. As the number of violators was high, the state government decided to deploy marshals to implement safety norms. It also raised the fine amount to Rs 250.
