Telangana: Crackdown on face mask violators, motorists top the list

Telangana police found that two-wheeler riders were turning a deaf ear to Covid safety protocols and riding without wearing a mask

Hyderabad: Two-wheeler riders topped the list in brazenly committing face mask violations in the State followed by those driving cars.

During the crackdown launched against face mask violators in view of the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases, Telangana police found that two-wheeler riders were turning a deaf ear to Covid safety protocols and riding without wearing a mask.

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A few bike riders were found to be wearing masks without covering their nose properly. Some did not even bother to wear helmets as well as face masks. The police booked ePetty cases against 71,618 violators from April 12 to 17 and collected a penalty of Rs.1,000 from each violator.

Of them, two-wheeler riders constituted 29,710 followed by 2,376 people in cars. Similar cases were booked against three-wheeler riders and heavy vehicle drivers including those driving lorries. Focus was also laid on pedestrians.

A majority of these ePetty cases were booked at traffic intersections under the limits of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police Commissionerates with the help of surveillance cameras while some cases were registered manually by the law and order, and traffic police in different places.

Police officials said most violations were committed in three urban Commissionerates – Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda and semi-urban Commissioneates – Ramagundam, Warangal, Khammam, Nizamabad, Siddipet and Karimnagar.

Officials said most people continued to ignore Covid-19 safety protocols despite advisories to follow the rules to control the spread of the virus and unnecessarily putting their lives at risk. “We have intensified the crackdown against face mask violators in view of the large number of Covid positive cases reported in the last few weeks,” an official said.

Both the vehicle rider and pillion should wear masks. In a video message, Director-General of Police M Mahendar Reddy said the police department would implement the face mask rule like helmet rule.

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