Gujarat Police collected over Rs 161 crore collected in high-quality for spitting, masks violations

Written by Vaibhav Jha
| Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad/vadodara/rajkot/surat, Surat, Vadodara |
April 4, 2021 4:36:03 am
THE GUJARAT Police collected a complete of Rs 161.66 crore in high-quality from 28.24 lakh offenders for not sporting face masks/covers and spitting in public locations amid the coronavirus pandemic between May 30 final yr and April 1 this yr throughout 33 districts of the state with Ahmedabad metropolis accounting for the lion’s share — Rs 36 crore — of the whole quantity collected.
From May 30 to December 5 final yr, the state police collected Rs 93.56 crore in high-quality from over 21.4 lakh individuals throughout the state for violating the masks rule and spitting in public, reviews accessed by The Sunday Express confirmed. Until September 27 final yr, a complete of 17.39 lakh folks had been fined to the tune of Rs 53.70 crore for the 2 violations.
Gaurav Jasani, Superintendent of Police and PRO to the state Director General of Police, mentioned: “The high mask violation fine collected by the Gujarat Police has been due to the strict implementation of a government advisory as per the situation of coronavirus pandemic in the state. The drive will see further intensification if the Covid-19 cases surge.”Notifications issued by the state authorities on May 30 final yr and the state well being division on June 15, 2020, said that high-quality might be collected from residents for not sporting masks in public locations. The orders additionally directed the Gujarat Police to make sure the rules are adopted. Earlier, municipal companies have been tasked with issuing challan to offenders. The high-quality for the violations ranged from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 within the 4 metropolitan cities and districts of Gujarat.
In Ahmedabad metropolis, a complete variety of 4.84 lakh folks have been booked for the violations and Rs 36 crore collected in high-quality between May 30 final yr and March 15 this yr. Recently, the native police rolled out a drive to offer free masks to residents as a substitute of issuing challans.
“The zone 6 police division, which includes Isanpur, Maninagar, Vatva, Vatva GIDC, Danilimda, Kagdapith and Narol police stations, have undertaken a drive for the past two weeks to distribute masks among commuters instead of issuing challan if they are seen without one in public. The drive will be replicated by other police zones as well,” an official of Ahmedabad metropolis police management room mentioned.
Ahmedabad metropolis was adopted by Vadodara metropolis, the place the native police collected a complete of Rs 9.48 crore in high-quality from 1,26,044 offenders since March final yr. So far, the Vadodara metropolis police has distributed round 1 lakh masks free-of-charge among the many folks in coordination with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and a few non-governmental organisations.The Surat metropolis police, in the meantime, registered 2,28,405 cases of masks violation and picked up Rs 12.60 lakh as a penalty.
The Rajkot metropolis police booked round 2.5 lakh individuals for not sporting masks and spitting in public within the corresponding interval. Of them, round one lakh folks have been caught by policemen on the sector whereas the remaining have been issued e-memos after they have been noticed flouting the Covid-19 norms on the CCTV surveillance community.

“The cumulative fine collection has been around 45 per cent. In cases where people were caught on the spot, the realisation has been 100 per cent, whereas it is around 27 per cent in cases of e-memos. The idea, however, is not to collect fines but to encourage Covid-19 compliant behaviour,” Manoj Agrawal, the commissioner of Rajkot metropolis police mentioned.In Rajkot, a high-quality of Rs 1000 was initially imposed on folks not sporting face masks, however the quantity was later lowered to Rs 500. For spitting, the high-quality was Rs 200 initially, which was subsequently elevated to Rs 500.
Over 2.5 lakh arrestedMore than 2.5 lakh folks have been arrested and round 1.91 lakh FIRs have been lodged for violation of curfew notification, illegal meeting, and underneath the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act during the last yr, the Gujarat Police mentioned.
Ahmedabad accounted for a most of 47,253 FIRs for such violations, whereas 56,500 individuals have been arrested in the course of the interval.
“Among the 56,500 people arrested, a maximum of 32,530 were held under the Epidemic Diseases Act, and 17,465 under IPC section 188 for violation of night curfew orders. Additionally, a total of 75,492 vehicles were also detained under the Motor Vehicles Act for curfew violation,” an announcement issued by the Ahmedabad police management room learn.In Surat, a complete of 32,930 FIRs have been lodged and 41,172 folks arrested during the last yr for comparable offences.(With inputs from Aditi Raja, Gopal Kateshiya and Kamaal Saiyed)