Ahmedabad: Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has made it compulsory for all citizens to wear mask at all public places till next order. The new order will be effective from 6 am on April 13.

Municipal Commissioner in his media briefing today afternoon said: Mask wearing has been made compulsory in Amdavad at all public places for all citizens and those visiting the city from outside, with effect from 6 am tomorrow morning. Violator will be slapped with Rs. 5,000 fine for breach of this order. Those who refuse to pay fine will attract FIR and upto 3-year imprisonment as per the provisions in epidemic act.

The Commissioner clarified that, wearing a simple home-made mask is allowed. Shop keepers, milk parlor staff, vegetable vendors, buyers all will need to obey this order.

He said 100s of teams of AMC will be out in open from tomorrow morning to enforce this order and collect fine, though AMC expects not a single case of breach or order would be found and all citizens will cooperate.

It’s worth noting that several other places in India including Mumbai city has made mask wearing compulsory in recent past in attempt to curb coronavirus infection spread. Delhi, Mumbai, and the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha on Wednesday had made the wearing of face masks mandatory for people stepping out of their homes. In the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, the mandatory masks rule announced Wednesday was limited to all officers, staff and visitors to the Civil Secretariat, while in the UT of Ladakh it applied to the general public as well as all government officials, including personnel of the armed forces, and violation was made a punishable offence.

Highlights of the order

-Covering mouth and nose with handkerchief or other loose cloth allowed.

-Rs. 1,000 to be levied on first time violations.

-All subsequent violations to attract Rs. 5,000 penalty in each case.

-Failure to pay penalty to attract prosecution under IPC section 188 and Epidemic Act.

DeshGujarat