As Covid cases dip, NMC goes easy on citizens sans mask

Nagpur: With dip in coronavirus cases, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s initiative to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour has taken a back seat.
Data obtained from the civic body reveal that cases of penalising citizens venturing out without mask started declining from May 2021.
In an act of abject carelessness, a large number of people can be seen moving about publicly without wearing face mask. Yet, the NMC’s civic cops have been penalizing an average 15 to 30 citizens a day only.
Data from June 2020 to October 2021 revealed that the highest number of people without mask were penalized in October 2020 when the Nuisance Detection Squad (NDS) had recovered Rs34.40 lakh fine from 6,880 citizens. The least number of people — 143 — were penalised in August 2020.
In the last 17 months, Nagpurians have cumulatively paid Rs1.89 crore as fine for roaming around in public places without wearing mask.
The civic cops in the field say they are facing resistance from the citizens after catching them without mask. “Most of the citizens show their double vaccination certificate, when caught,” said the NDS team members. Not only this, even elected representatives have started interfering with the NDS action against Covid protocol violators, they said.
TOI visited many public places including markets, railway station, Ganeshpeth bus depot, Mor Bhavan city bus depot and found scant or no regard for the Covid-19 protocols.
With Covid curbs eased and cases down, markets are abuzz with shoppers in view of the Diwali festival. And not only shoppers, but even shopkeepers and their employees were found without mask.
“Though the infectivity has gone down, the pandemic is not over yet. Cases are still being reported. We must be careful for some more days. Precautionary measures like masks, hand hygiene and physical distancing are must. Many people have stopped wearing mask. This is risky. Masks are useful in many ways, especially during Diwali. You can protect yourself from several infections, and pollution too,” said Dr Ravindra Sarnaik, member of Nagpur District Covid-19 Task Force.
In this calendar year, initially the civic cops had penalized approximately 125 citizens daily for not wearing mask. In January, as many 3,920 citizens were fined (Rs19.60 lakh fine recovered), February (4,241 penalized and Rs21.20 lakh recovered).
The data of both Covid-19 cases and people fined for not wearing mask started crumbling from July. The Covid cases reported in the district were 2,833, while the NDS had penalized 792 citizens for violating mask must rule.
In October 2021, the NDS caught 897 citizens without mask. Since then, the cases of penalizing citizens without mask had never crossed even 1,000 a month. In May, 408 citizens were penalized, while it was 465 in June.
Deputy municipal commissioner Rajesh Bhagat admitted the civic cops are going slow in penalizing citizens violating Covid-19 guidelines. “I will ask the NDS team to intensify the drive against violators of Covid-19 protocols,” he said.
Month—Cases—No mask
Sept 20—-44,647---3,616
Oct 20—-15,412---6,880
Nov 20—- 18,341---6,013
Dec 20 —-12,002---4,043
Jan 21 —-399---3,920
Feb 21 —-25,622---4,241
March 21 —-76,250---2,719
April 21 —-1,81,749---897
May 21 —-66,818---408
June 21 —-15,447---465
July 21 —-2,833---792
Aug 21 —-145---523
Sept 21 —-273---679
Oct 21 —-149---585