E-Paper
Follow Covid norms strictly: Civic body to business establishments
Bengaluru The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday issued a circular in which it stated that the marshals who enforce Covid appropriate behaviour in India’s IT capital will be able to inspect any commercial establishment to check compliance
Bengaluru The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday issued a circular in which it stated that the marshals who enforce Covid appropriate behaviour in India’s IT capital will be able to inspect any commercial establishment to check compliance.
“BBMP marshals & health officials are hereby authorised to enter such premises during working hours to check the compliance with effect from September 1. Any violation in this regard shall be liable for penalty and also punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), as defined in the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897,” according to the circular, issued by Gaurav Gupta, BBMP chief commissioner.
The BBMP has justified its action by stating that the government has allowed commercial establishments to operate with a condition that all Covid appropriate protocols will be followed.
The circular comes at a time when the Basavaraj Bommai government has turned a blind eye on political events, gatherings of its own party and administration but threatened strict measures against the public for any violations of Covid-19 norms.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jana Ashirwad Yatra continues to be undertaken with hundreds of people attending them with no semblance of Covid appropriate behaviour like wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing or any other precautions to prevent another outbreak.
“As a measure to contain the transmission of virus and prevent any further surge of Covid-19 cases in the city, it is essential to ensure that staff of commercial establishments/industries/hotels & restaurants/offices do not get infected and thereafter spread the infection to customers & public visiting such places,” the BBMP circular stated. The BBMP also said that it was the duty of the employers of such establishments to ensure regular testing of their staff and ensure 100% vaccination. “At least one dose of vaccination shall be complied with for employers by August 31,” the circular added.
Karnataka has so far administered 3,84,67,795 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the state, according to data from CoWin portal as on 9.40 pm on Thursday.
This includes 2,93,06,361 first doses and 91,61,434 second doses.
Bommai, who is on a two-day visit to Delhi, on Thursday said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government has agreed to increase the quota of doses that will be distributed to the state in the coming months.
“They (union government) have said that they will give us more vaccines in September and October,” Bommai said in Delhi on Thursday.
The Karnataka government is hoping to administer at least the first dose of the vaccine to all eligible population by the end of the year and has planned to take its daily count up to 500,000 per day to achieve this goal.
