Kolkata Police intensifies mask-up campaign, penalizes 400 in 4 days – Times of India

KOLKATA: The city cops have stepped up their ‘Mask Up’ campaign again, with officers penalizing over 400 people in the past four days during special morning drives. Cops say that with Kerala and Maharashtra still registering several cases every day, the danger is not over. The aim, they said, is to cover areas around schools and cinema halls, or any enclosed space.
A look at the recent statistics points to how the police have been active from the weekend that saw both Valentine’s Day and Saraswati Puja. “It is this set of youngsters — mostly in college, university and newly employed — who are the biggest violators. The vaccination may have started, but there is still some time till a considerable section of the population gets vaccinated. Most of our drives are taking place from 10am to 8pm,” said an officer.
Between February 14 and 18 (till noon), cops have prosecuted 433 people for not wearing masks. On February 14, the number was 75, which went up to 105 on February 15, followed by 114 on February 16 and 125 on February 17. In comparison, there were 94, 63, 69 and 97 prosecutions between February 10 and 14.
The police measures came after at least 30% of those fined were found to be wearing the mask merely as an accessory. About 70% were not wearing masks. “Last year, initially, we repeatedly found people were not wearing masks properly. But now a section is not even pretending to wear one. At the Alipore Zoo and Burrabazar, we had people charging at us when we asked them to wear masks,” said an officer.
At least three divisions held special sensitization drives and distributed masks. “Ever since the arrival of vaccines, the ground report is that there is a section which has almost forgotten that we are amidst a pandemic. There is a social responsibility, too, that several people, especially the youngsters, are forgetting,” said a joint commissioner. “We are not relaxing now. We are telling people they need to stick to Covid protocols,” said a welfare cell officer. The total prosecutions for protocol violation stand at over 3,000 since the New Year.
“The vaccination has not yet taken off for the elderly. The Covid numbers now resemble that in the initial April weeks of last year. We all know about the spike that followed. If we are not careful, a resurgence is possible. Moreover, many people are thinking that once they get vaccinated, they’re not going to have to wear masks any more. They forget that a huge section of the population is yet to be covered in the vaccine plans. It is critical that people know they have to keep wearing masks,” said Amitabha Sengupta, a child specialist in Santoshpur.