Fighting coronavirus: Over 2,700 Mumbaikars fined for not wearing masks

Over 2,700 people have been fined

by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in the last five months for stepping out in public without wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said on Friday.

As per the Union government's guidelines following the viral outbreak, the civic body made masks mandatory in public places since April 9.

The civic body in Mumbai has collected a total of Rs 27.48 lakh in fines from 2,798 citizens between April 9 and August 31, the official said.

At least 9,954 citizens were issued warnings by the civic body's solid waste management department, which is keeping a check on violations, for not wearing masks correctly, he said.

The civic body has directed to collect Rs 1,000 fine from violators of the mask rule.

According to the civic body, Rs 5.04 lakh were collected in fines in K-West ward that includes Andheri West, which is the highest in the city.

This was followed by R-South, which includes western suburb of Kandivali, and C ward of south Bombay with Rs 4.21 lakh and Rs 4.08 lakh respectively, the civic data stated.

The civic body further said that Rs 9.45 lakh in fines were collected in May alone, followed by Rs 5.88 lakh and Rs 4.82 lakh in June and April respectively.

Mumbai is one of the worst-affected cities in the country in the pandemic, with over 1.5 lakh cases and 7,761 casualties.