Mumbai Mayor demands police action after video shows BMC marshals being manhandled at Juhu beach

“They are authorised to do this job. Police should look for such people and take action,” Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Saturday demanded police action against people who manhandled the marshals deployed by BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation to check for violation of Covid-19 norms. A grab of the video tweeted by news agency ANI showed people at Juhu beach manhandling the BMC marshals while they were on duty.

The Mayor had announced on Friday that the state government has deployed marshals to enforce wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing. (HT Photo)

“They are authorised to do this job. Police should look for such people and take action,” Pednekar said, as reported by ANI. On Friday, the Mayor had announced that the state government has deployed marshals to enforce wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing while in public places because of the surge in the number of cases.

Maharashtra has been witnessing a spike in the number of Covid-19 infections and the government has implemented strict measures to curb the spread. Reassuring that the restrictive measures would continue, the Mayor said, “Ward officials with their teams will monitor Covid situation in their areas. Action will be taken against those not following SOPs. Buildings will be sealed if 5 or more persons found Covid positive. Asymptomatic patients will be admitted to quarantine centres.”

On Saturday, the state reported 6,281 new Covid-19 cases and 40 deaths, the second consecutive day when the daily new infections crossed the 6,000 mark. With this, the tally reached 2,093,913 cases and 51,753 deaths. Maharashtra reported 6,112 Covid-19 cases on Friday.

Meanwhile, the city of Mumbai reported 897 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Saturday, taking the overall tally to 3,18,207 cases and 11,440 deaths. As part of the efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, the BMC had sealed 1305 buildings in Mumbai, that has 71,838 households.

The Union health ministry has advised that “the importance of adherence of Covid appropriate behaviour is strongly reiterated for breaking the chain of transmission of the virus and containment of spread of the disease,” after a surge in cases.