After the State government had made masks compulsory in public places and mandated personal distancing norm in shops and following the Field Inspection Team’s instruction, the Coimbatore Corporation has been going after people without masks on streets and in public places.
It has also started imposing fines on shopkeepers for not enforcing personal distancing norm within and outside their shops.
Sources in the Corporation said that sanitary inspectors led by zonal sanitary officers have been levying fine at ₹ 100 a person for not wearing mask.
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On an average, they fine anywhere between 100 to 200 persons a day and act against at least 50 shopkeepers.
In the past week, the Corporation had collected ₹ 67,500 in fine from over 670 persons. Likewise, the Corporation had also imposed fine on shopkeepers for not enforcing personal distancing norm on their premises and outside as well.
A sanitary officer said he had asked the owners of a few shops to down shutter as the State government had not permitted those. Another officer said he had ordered the owners of a home appliance shop and two grocery stores to close the shop as no personal distancing was followed and a few employees were without masks.
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Another officer said that in his zone, he had instructed the sanitary inspectors to handover masks after imposing fine.
The sources said that the sanitary inspectors were enforcing the wearing of the masks even as they went about supervising solid waste management and street cleaning in their respective wards.