Over 800,000 incidents of Covid norms violations recorded in Delhi in 4 months, ₹135 crore collected in fines

Official data showed that enforcement teams of the city government's revenue department and the Delhi Police booked over six lakh and two lakh people, respectively, in May-August for violating various Covid-related guidelines like not wearing masks, crowding and spitting in public places.

Delhiites coughed up more than ₹135 crore in fines with over eight lakh violations of Covid-appropriate behaviour norms in the last four months, officials said on Wednesday.

While government teams imposed fines of more than ₹103 crore, the Delhi Police imposed over ₹32 crore of penalties. (HT Photo)

The fines were imposed by Delhi government teams and police personnel, they said.

Official data showed that enforcement teams of the city government's revenue department and the Delhi Police booked over six lakh and two lakh people, respectively, in May-August for violating various Covid-related guidelines like not wearing masks, crowding and spitting in public places.

While government teams imposed fines of more than ₹103 crore, the Delhi Police imposed over ₹32 crore of penalties. The police also arrested over 15,600 people in the past four months for violating guidelines, it showed.

Officials said that nearly 1.8 lakh people were booked and ₹32.41 crore in fine was imposed in August by the revenue department and the Delhi Police.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) has authorised district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police, deputy commissioners of civic bodies and other officers to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour, guidelines and other instructions in areas like markets, malls, restaurants, bus and railway stations.

The revenue department collected ₹26.74 crore in fines and got 4,818 FIRs registered in August for violations of Covid-related guidelines, the data showed.

The Delhi Police, imposed fines of ₹5.6 crore and arrested 3,838 people for violations of national directives of COVID-19 management.

The revenue department had imposed fines worth ₹15.16 crore by issuing more than 85,000 challans for Covid-related violations in May. In June ₹25.19 crore fine was imposed on 1.58 lakh violators, according to the data.

In July, over 2.11 lakh challans were issued and the fine amount soared to ₹36.21 crore.

Violations registered by the Delhi Police were over 83,000 in May, 50,000 in June and 39,000 in July. The amount of fine imposed was ₹15.94 crore in May, ₹10.16 crore in June and ₹67.5 lakh in July, the data showed.