LUDHIANA: This festival season, Covid monitors will ensure that people visiting markets follow the pandemic guidelines. The monitors will be shop workers who will ask visitors to comply with the norms of wearing masks, maintaining distance and sanitising hands.
The Ludhiana police on Monday started conducting meetings with market associations to inform them about the concept.
Commissioner of police Rakesh Agarwal said, “With festival season here, people are thronging markets. This is a challenging time for the police. For, if people do not take precautions, there will again be a surge of cases. Therefore, we have come up with the concept of Covid monitors in the markets. At each shop, one of its employees will be appointed as the monitor. (S)He will ensure that people are keeping distance and wearing masks.”
Besides, cops will randomly visit markets and issue challans. “But before that, police will again start an awareness drive,” he added.
The ACP (traffic) will conduct meetings with the market associations. “After that, meetings will be held with the representatives of religious places. In festivals, people visit religious places and so it is important to make arrangements there too. Besides ensuring compliance of norms, the Covid monitors there will also keep an eye on gatherings inside the premises,” he said.
On how police would ensure that people don’t indulge in arguments when told to comply with the guidelines, as earlier there were complaints against volunteers, Agarwal said, “We are appointing the employees of shops as Covid monitors who will politely ask customers to follow the rules. There will be no arguments.”