Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Sunday accepted an order to impose a fine of Rs 1000 because they did not wear a mask in public. The heavy fine comes with a view to increase COVID-19 cases over the past ten days or so, with the state reporting more than 3,000 cases today.
Telangana General Secretary Somesh Kumar on Sunday signed the Government Order (JV) and sent it to all district collectors. The aim of ensuring that people wear masks is to spread the word COVID-19, which is currently infecting people in large numbers in a second wave. The government of Telangana, like other states, is also trying to mitigate the increasing cases by also increasing vaccination.
The order imposing the heavy fine on people for not wearing masks comes at a time when the general public has become lax about the precautions. Although each place was instructed to wear masks and disinfect their hands before entering a place COVID-19 pandemic started last year, many among the public have stopped taking these precautions as the daily number of cases has decreased over the past few months.
Unlike other states like Maharashtra and Delhi, the Telangana government has not yet planned to close down. State Health Minister Eatala Rajender made it clear earlier this week that another shutdown, such as last year, would not be done, and urged people to be more careful while taking risks.
Over the past two weeks, the state has begun to see a slow increase in business. Telangana touched on the 100 cases a day more than a week ago, after which the daily number of new cases continued to shoot up. From now on, the state will also try to vaccinate. In fact, Somesh Kumar in a letter to the center on Saturday (April 11) asked for 30 doses more of the COVID-10 vaccine, and states that Telangana will run out of the vaccine in three days. It remains to be seen how the central government will react.
Source: The Siasat Daily