Rs 5,000 fine for violating home quarantine in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: Struggling to enforce health advisories issued to check the spread of Covid-19, the Punjab government on Thursday decided to impose additional penalties on those found violating the norms.
During a review meeting, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh announced that a fine of Rs 5,000 would be imposed on those found not following home quarantine rules. As per the record of the state health department, 951 patients are in home isolation across the state.
He also announced imposition of Rs 5,000 as fine on owners of restaurants and commercial eating places for violating social distancing norms, as a deterrent against defiance of the restrictions put in place to check the spread of the pandemic in the state. Further, violation of social distancing norms and social gatherings of more than the permitted strength will lead to penalty amounting to Rs 10,000.
These are in addition to fines announced in the month of May, which include Rs 500 for not wearing a mask in public places, Rs 200 for violation of home quarantine instructions, and Rs 500 for spitting at public places.
The government has been forced to enforce additional fines as people continue to violate the instructions. On an average, around 5,000 people are daily challaned for not wearing masks, shared DGP Dinkar Gupta.
Capt Amarinder also urged the heads and managements of various religious institutions to ensure enforcement of social distancing restrictions and other Covid safety guidelines, including masks, during visits to religious places in the state. He also requested them to make regular announcements in this regard through public address systems.
Pointing out that 28 police personnel at Nathana police station in District Bathinda had tested positive, CM advised employees with fever or flu-like symptoms not to come to office but to get themselves tested at the earliest. All the 28 cops were primary contacts of an ASI who had tested positive some days back, the DGP said.
Gupta said another such case had been reported from subdivision Lehra, where a total of 33 personnel, about 40% of total force, had tested positive. The Kharkhan BSF Campus, which had turned into a super-spreader, had reported 126 positive of the 723 samples, whose test reports had so far been received, the Punjab Police chief said. Results in 133 cases were pending.