The visitors were fined for flouting mask and social distancing norms and also for unnecessary movement. As many as 920 people were fined over the weekend by Pune Rural Police for visiting various monsoon tourist attractions, where entry is currently prohibited on weekends due to the existing Covid-19 restrictions.
The visitors were fined for flouting mask-wearing and social distancing norms and also for unnecessary movement.
The rural parts of Pune have a large number of monsoon tourist attractions, which include forts, waterfalls, dams and backwater reservoirs, along with places of attraction in and around hill stations like Lonavala and Khandala.
As per the present restriction orders by the district administration, the entry to these tourist destinations has been prohibited over the weekend, considering arrival of large number of people from Pune and Mumbai.
Officials of Pune Rural Police said on Saturday and Sunday, total 920 people, who were moving towards tourist places like Lonavala, Khandalam, Sinhagad, Rajgad, Purandar, Lohagad, Mulshi, Pavana and Bhushi and ghats of Tamhini and Bhimashankar, were fined.
Pune Rural Police’s local stations had set up 30 check-points on the roads towards these tourist places. People were fined for not wearing masks, flouting vehicle occupancy norms and roaming without a valid reason.
Officials said despite surveillance, some people still managed to reach the tourist places by using alternative routes and fines were also collected from some of these visitors.
An officer from Pune Rural Police said while Pune City and Mumbai have been categorised as Level-2 areas as per the positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy, the rural areas of Pune were still at Level 4. The restrictions have been imposed accordingly.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
