Delhi Police penalised 5,35,167 people, from June 15th until November 19 for violating COVID-19 norms. People were fined for not wearing masks, violating social distancing rules and exceeding the limit of people at social gatherings and at protests. Cops collected Rs 26.72 crore in fine in past five months.

To control the spread of COVID-19, Delhi government, earlier on June 14, had passed an ordinance, under which a fine of Rs 500 had to be paid by the ones violating COVID-19 safety guidelines and norms. On November 18th, the government decided to increase the fine from Rs 500 to Rs 2000 but Delhi Police, for sometime, continued to collect Rs 500 fine as they did not receive any notification regarding the revised fine.

Delhi Police even ran awareness campaigns on radio, newspapers and social media with the motto of educating the people to wear masks and to follow social distancing. “We are doing our best to limit the spread of the virus; we have not only fined people but also distributed more than four lakh masks to the needy.

It was our priority since day one to help those in need,” said Eish Singhal (PRO Delhi Police).

He continued to say that they had filed an FIR against those violating social distancing norms at public gatherings. “We undertook several drives to aware the people of the city regarding sanitisation, following COVID-19 norms and maintaining social distancing,” he added.

COVID-19 situation in Delhi could worsen as air quality of the city dropped rapidly in past few weeks. PM2.5 AQI (Air Quality Index) was recorded at 416 and PM10 AQI at 364.