Enforcement wing officials of MCG to check violations as malls in Gurugram reopen

To ensure that safety measures are being followed in the city malls that are slated to open on Wednesday after a gap of over three months, the Municipal Corporation

To ensure that safety measures are being followed in the city malls that are slated to open on Wednesday after a gap of over three months, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has assigned 80 of its enforcement wing officials across its four zones to keep a lookout for possible violations, said officials of the civic body.

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The Haryana government on Sunday issued an order, detailing a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the reopening of malls in Gurugram and Faridabad. As per the order, municipalities have been directed to “monitor compliance by undertaking regular visits” to malls and to ensure that proper sanitisation of the premises are being carried out. The MCG officials have also been given the power to issue challans of ₹500 to visitors for failing to wearing to wear masks. As per the guidelines, the officials are also supposed hand out five masks to violators.

As per MCG joint commissioner Hariom Attri, the enforcement wing officials in each of MCG’s four zones will be randomly conducting checks at all the malls in their respective jurisdictions and will accordingly issue penalties if any violation of the guidelines listed in the SOPs is found.

This is not the first time that the enforcement wing of the MCG has carried out such an exercise. As per Attri, since April, eight teams comprising officials of the MCG’s enforcement and sanitation wings have been keeping a lookout for violations of lockdown norms and the guidelines listed in the SOPs for markets and stand-alone shops. Attri, however, added that the responsibility for malls has been exclusively assigned to the enforcement wing as its officials have better “technical knowledge” in the matter.

“Monitoring in malls is not limited to violations relating to wearing of masks and social distancing norms. There are numerous other factors that need to be monitored. As officials in the enforcement wing are more familiar with such matters, we have therefore assigned them with this responsibility,” said Attri.

Attri further said that the MCG at present has not put together any specific teams for keeping a check on the malls. Instead, the officials of the enforcement wing engaged in checking violations of SOPs in markets have been directed to keep an eye on the malls in their respective jurisdictions.

“Based on the initial public response to the news of reopening of malls in Delhi, we are expecting a low footfall in the initial few weeks in Gurugram as well. As such, no separate teams have been constituted for this task. However, if the footfall is higher or sees a gradual increase over the next few weeks, we will allocate more officials for this task,” said Attri.

The MCG held separate meetings with mall associations over the last three days and cautioned them that repeated violations of the SOPs might attract strict penalties.

The SOPs lay down a list of rules that must be followed by the mall authorities. As per the rules, malls can only be open between 9am and 8pm daily, while cinema halls, gaming arcades and play areas for children will continue to remain close.

All visitors and malls workers need to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Visitors above the age of 65 and below the age of 10 cannot be permitted entry. Mall authorities will also have to ensure that every visitor is scanned for temperature via thermal scanners and that hand sanitisers are placed at all entry points. They need to also ensure that large gatherings or congregations do not take place, while the temperature setting of all air-conditioners within the mall premises should be set between 24-30 degrees Celsius.

In shops and food courts, less than 50% of the seats need to be occupied, while staff and waiters in food courts will have to mandatorily wear masks and hand gloves.

“On both Monday and Tuesday, we have undertaken extensive disinfecting and sanitising operations. Our staff members have been directed to follow the requisite safety measures and also ensure that visitors do the same,” said Aman Bajaj, a member of MGF Metropolitan Mall association.