HDMC has tough time penalising those not wearing masks

Hubballi: The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) staff who are tasked with penalising the public who are not wearing a mask, is facing difficulties in discharging their duties effectively. The reason is that the violators abuse the staff and argue with them, when they try to penalise them.
According to the sources in the corporation, the staff are repeatedly being abused, and the violators behave rudely.
In one such case a woman HDMC official registered a police complaint against violators for behaving rudely with her and obstructing her from discharging her duties with the APMC/ Navanagar police. In the complaint, the official mentioned that two persons behaved rudely with her when she asked to pay a penalty for not wearing a mask in public. The incident took place in the APMC Yard, the complaint stated.
This incident is just the tip of the iceberg, and came to light as the official went to the police station to register a case, but many officials, especially health inspectors, never approached the police, and most of the arguments were settled on the spot, with the intervention of locals, said an official.
Even police department staff have been given the task of penalising violators who are not wearing masks. They say that the people argue with them, but they do not pay heed to such people, and go ahead and discharge their duty. A personnel attached to the North traffic police station said every day he penalises such violators, but that the numbers are not big.
“People should understand that wearing a mask is for their safety as well as for others, but the people roam about without wearing a mask,” said the police.
HDMC commissioner Suresh Itnal said that they had come across incidents of misbehaviour by some people, and that they will seek police protection in order to continue the work, but so far no decision has been taken in this regard. “The HDMC will continue to fine the violators, and there is no question of backtracking from the job due to some stray incidents,” he said.
According to the data sourced by the HDMC, by August 5 evening, 3,575 violators who were roaming around without wearing a mask in public places were fined, and the total fine collected stood at Rs 7.2 lakh.