It’s official: Not wearing a mask in public places in Delhi won’t cost you Rs 500

NEW DELHI: Almost a month after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in a meeting decided to relax the mask mandate and withdraw Rs 500 penalty for not wearing masks in public places, the health and family welfare department issued a notice to this effect.
The notification, however, added that the public was advised to wear masks in crowded public places.
According to officials, the decision to penalise people for not adhering to Covid protocol of wearing masks was taken on June 13, 2020 under the Delhi Epidemic Diseases (management of Covid-19) Regulations, 2020. However, DDMA in its meeting held on September 22 noted that the positivity rate of Covid-19 infection has come down substantially and a majority of the population had been vaccinated.
“… DDMA has decided that compulsory wearing of masks under the Epidemic Act may not be extended beyond 30.09.2022 and hence, a fine of Rs 500/- for not wearing of masks in public places would also stand withdrawn after 30.09.2022,” the notification issued by special secretary of the health and family welfare department read. “However, in crowded public places, all public are advised to wear masks,” the notification stated further.
The DDMA meeting of September 22 was chaired by lieutenant governor VK Saxena and attended by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the vice-chairman of the Authority, revenue minister Kailash Gahlot, chief secretary Naresh Kumar, police commissioner Sanjay Arora, Dr VK Paul from Niti Ayog, and National Disaster Management Authority members Rajendra Singh and Krishna Vatsa.
The minutes of the meeting were also put in public domain on October 4 but the notification has been issued only now.
During the meeting, chief secretary Naresh Kumar had stated that the current situation was comfortable but the guard could not be lowered as new variants keep coming up, while NDMA member Dr Rajendra Singh suggested that wearing of masks may be continued up to November 15 in view of the festival season.
Dr VK Paul had in the meeting emphasised that surveillance was still needed as the virus is still present and its mutations and variants have emerged from time to time.
Revenue minister Kailash Gahlot in the same meeting had reiterated that there were “practical difficulties” in the enforcement of the mask mandate, and had stressed the need to relax the rule.