Bengaluru civic body allows homemade masks to avoid fines

On Friday, the civic body had announced that spitting, urinating, littering and not wearing a mask in public will attract a penalty of Rs 1,000 at first instance and Rs 2,000 on every subsequent violation.

The city civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), has allowed people to wear homemade cloth masks, bandanas and scarfs to adhere to its order of always wearing a mask when outside amid the Covid-19 contagion, an official said on Saturday.

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“Facial mask could be any mask used to cover nose and mouth and would also include any face cover including a piece of cloth covering nose and mouth fully to serve the purpose of protection,” tweeted BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar.

Kumar issued the order to clarify to the people what all kinds of masks can be worn in public to avoid fines.

From the civic body, the commissioner has authorised senior health inspectors from the public health wing and junior health inspectors and marshals from the Solid Waste Management Cell to levy fines on people not wearing masks in public.

On Friday, the civic body had announced that spitting, urinating, littering and not wearing a mask in public will attract a penalty of Rs 1,000 at first instance and Rs 2,000 on every subsequent violation.

The new order has been implemented from Friday. The BBMP collected Rs 51,700 in fines on Saturday.