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Nagpur: Nagpurians, it seems, have emerged ‘Penny wise, Pound foolish’ as instead of following the laid down Covid-19 norms, they flouted the rules and paid a whopping Rs 4.64 crore as fine inthe last 16 months. This fact was revealed in the NMC data obtained by the local media.
According to the data, the Nuisance Detection Squad (NDS) of Nagpur Municipal Corporation recovered Rs 1.98 crore penalty from 46,420 citizens for not wearing masks between June 2020 and September 30, 2021. Similarly, Rs 70.14 lakh fine was recovered from 2,444 shopkeepers for violating odd-even rule imposed during lockdown in city limits.
The NMC’s Nuisance Detection Squad also took the marriage halls, lawns and shopkeepers to task for disregarding Covid-19 protocol and recovered over Rs 1.95 crore fine from them.
But old habits die hard, they say. Despite paying such a huge amount as penalty, a number of Nagpurians refuse to correct themselves and can still be found roaming in public places mocking the Covid safety protocol.
A visit to many public places such as Railway Station, ST Bus Stand, Mor Bhavan City Bus Stop, and at other places, would reveal people flouting Covid safety guidelines. The commercial hubs like Dharampeth, Sitabuldi, Gandhibagh, Itwari, Cotton Market, Sadar etc told no different story as people roamed freely with no regard to Covid safety. Many citizens can be found moving without masks and being netted by NDS and penalized.
