AHMEDABAD: Amid the deployment of 23,000 cops in the city ahead of the Rath Yatra on Monday, mask offences dropped to 805 on Saturday from 2,668 on July 5.
According to the city police’s figures, as cops trained their focus on the yatra, mask offences declined to about 70% of the July 5 numbers in the six days leading up to Saturday. Devotees will not be allowed to participate in the yatra owing to the Covid pandemic.
Sources in police said that the mask cases plunged during the festivals in October and November last year and in February this year in the run-up to the civic body polls.
When Covid cases dip, police generally tend to become lenient with the offenders and do not conduct aggressive drives to catch maskless people.
“Last week, Covid cases ranged between 11 and 15 in the city. We have not held any major drive to book people who roam without masks,” said a city police officer. “Besides, the vaccination initiative has been intensified, so the risk of spreading infections will decrease. Thus, we decided to be a bit soft on the mask offenders.”
The cops did not consider the fact that the number of Covid cases has increased just a few weeks after a period when the mask offences showed a downward trend.
According to the figures of the city police, Ahmedabad reported nearly 6.70 lakh cases of mask violations from June 24, 2020, to June 2021 and Amdavadis paid Rs 54 crore for breaching the rule.
Cops said that they will start cracking down on mask offences and register FIRs for not following social distancing norms after the Rath Yatra concludes.
The nod to hold the 144th Rath Yatra in the city was given by the state government on July 8.
