Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) special squad including police personnel will ensure that every citizen stepping out of their homes must wear masks and maintain social distancing during the festival season. The special squad will also collect fines for violators. Each ward will one squad.
For the last 15 days, there has seen a significant decline in the number of COVID 19 positive cases. However, the civic body is extremely cautious during the festival season. “While this is comforting that COVID cases are dropping, it is a contagious disease that needs to be treated very responsibly until a vaccine is available," said a senior civic official.
Citizens are likely to flock to the markets to shop for various items during the Diwali festival. Considering the danger of COVID spread in a crowded place, Special Vigilance Squad has been formed for each ward by the civic chief at headquarter level. At the ward level, vigilance teams are already taking action. However, this special squad will focus on crowded areas during the festival.
The special squad will consist of two employees of the corporation and two policemen. “With the involvement of the police, the action against masks and social distance violations will be taken more effectively. All the eight teams have been provided separate vehicles to patrol the department office area,” said the official. He added that the purpose of the special squad is not to recover the penalty but to ensure that the citizens follow the health safety rules.
The squad will also make announcements conveying messages like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
Since the lockdown was imposed, the civic body collected around Rs 48 lakh fine. Meanwhile, during October so far, there is a sharp rise in the recovery rate and it has reached 93% and now only 6 percent or 1986 active cases are left in the city. For the last fortnight, more people are getting cured than getting infected.
