Not wearing masks, spitting in public places to invite Rs 500 fine in Hry: Home Minister Vij

Not wearing masks or spitting in public places will invite a fine of Rs 500 and the offender will have to pay it in cash at the spot, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday. Block development and panchayat officers, tehsildar and naib tehsildar in rural areas and executive officers of municipal committees or corporations in urban areas will have the power to impose the fine on violators.

“People who are found not wearing masks, spitting in public places will be fined Rs 500,” Vij told reporters. Police station house officers and medical officers, as designated by civil surgeons, on hospitals, community health centre and primary health centre premises, will have the power to impose the fine, according to a notification issued by the state's health department.

It said any officer specifically designated by deputy commissioners and sub-divisional magistrate will also been given powers to impose the fine. The notification said the central and state governments have made it very clear that in the interest of public safety during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic wearing of face cover, whether a mask, an improvised mask, a home-made mask or a face cover using clean clothes, will be mandatory for every person at public places and at workplace. There needs to be strict prohibition of spitting in public places, it said.

“Now, therefore, it is ordered that every violation of these prohibitions will be punished by imposing a fine of Rs 500. Non-payment of fine by the violator will attract proceedings under Section 188 of IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant),” according to the notification. It was issued by the state's Director General of Health Services Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj in exercise of powers conferred on him under the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

Vij, who is also the health minister, a week ago, had said the Haryana government is mulling imposing fine on those not wearing masks and violating social distancing norms. However, it was felt that as people are being asked to maintain social distancing in public places, to implement the orders for the purpose of collecting fine may not be practically possible.

Haryana had earlier made wearing of masks mandatory for people when they are outside their homes. Vij said that he had recently written to the state home secretary to work out modalities to impose fine on violators. He reiterated that “If people want that (lockdown) relaxations should be there and these should continue, then rules will have to be made strict. When it seems that we may have to live with the novel coronavirus, tough rules and laws are needed”. Replying to a question on the COVID-19 situation in Haryana, Vij said that as compared to other states, the situation in the state was comparatively better.

Most of the over 1300 positive cases have been reported from four districts adjoining Delhi and these are Sonipat, Faridabad, Gurugram and Jhajjar, he said. Yesterday, 33 new cases were found in Gurugram and 22 in Faridabad, Vij said.

“If we exclude the number of positive COVID-19 cases reported in the four districts adjoining Delhi and the Tablighi Jamaat cases earlier on, then certainly Haryana would have been in a much better position. We are still in a better position as compared to other states,” he added..