Covid-19: Now, Hingoli in Maharashtra adopts 'no vaccine, no fuel' policy to boost drive

All fuel stations have also been asked to put up 'no vaccine, no fuel' board, according to an order issued by Hingoli collector Jitendra Papalkar.

To increase vaccine coverage against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) among its population, the authorities in Maharashtra's Hingoli on Friday ordered dispensing stations to not sell fuel unless the vaccination certificate of the buyer is checked.

All fuel stations have also been asked to put up 'no vaccine, no fuel' board, according to an order issued by Hingoli collector Jitendra Papalkar. (Representational image)(Santosh Kumar )

All fuel stations have also been asked to put up 'no vaccine, no fuel' board, according to an order issued by Hingoli collector Jitendra Papalkar.

The order further said the chief executive officer of the local zilla parishad, the superintendent of police, sub-divisional officers and tehsildars would be responsible for ensuring its effective implementation, a PTI report said.

Violators would be charged under provisions of the IPC, Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act etc.

The order came days after a similar strategy was adopted by the Aurangabad administration wherein it mandated that residents not having received at least the first dose of the vaccine will not get petrol, gas or ration. Store and fuel station owners and operators were also asked to check vaccination certificates of people.

The orders came after the vaccination figures in the region were found to be low.

Besides, the collector wrote to the treasury officer instructing him to stop salaries and other fund sanctions for November of employees who have not taken a single dose of vaccine and presented a certificate for the same.

Earlier, eight districts in Maharashtra, including Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Buldhana, Hingoli, Nanded, Beed, Amravati and Akola, were identified as laggards with respect to the pace of inoculation drive.

India reported 10,549 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 3,45,55,431, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

As many as 488 patients died and 9,868 recovered from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll and total recoveries to 467,468 and 33,977,830.