Odisha: Lenient cops allow Covid rule violators to get away easily

BHUBANESWAR: Though chief minister Naveen Patnaik has at regular intervals asked the Odisha Police to strictly enforce the mask and physical distancing norms, the cops seem to be nonchalant.
Defying the government’s order of imposing a fine of Rs 2,000 on persons without masks, the police personnel have been asking them to cough up anything between Rs 100 and Rs 500 in many districts as well as the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Amid the alarming rise in cases during the fresh resurgence of Covid-19, Naveen had on April 9 announced a 14-day ‘Mask Abhijan’ to ensure that nobody steps out without wearing a mask to prevent the spread of Covid. In a video message to the people, Naveen had said anyone coming out of their homes without masks would be fined and had also said the government has decided to double the fine amount.
After Naveen’s announcement, a health department notification issued on the same day had said the fine amount for not wearing mask has been increased to Rs 2,000 for the first and second violation and Rs 5,000 from the third violation onwards with immediate effect.
Going by Odisha Police statistics, 2,59,246 persons were penalized for not wearing masks and not maintaining social distance in the last one month. A total of Rs 8,07,72,630 in fines were collected. Had the police imposed Rs 2,000 on each violator as instructed by the government, the total fine amount that was collected would have been more than Rs 51 crore.
“We showed leniency to many violators as they could not afford to pay the fine during the pandemic. Many of them were poor, including students, jobless youths, rickshaw pullers and roadside vendors. We could not ask them for more than Rs 500,” a senior police officer in Bhubaneswar said.