NAVI Mumbai: The civic body has come up with a unique way of monitoring social distancing norms in the city. Abhijit Bangar, commissioner, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) informed that the corporation will be roping in ex-army personnel to form a squad to keep an eye on the behaviour of the citizens, on a day to day basis. They would ensure that none of the social distancing norms gets ignored.
Like we all know, Navi Mumbai is slowly trying to get back on track with the reopening of business activities in the city. It is understood that the citizens, irrespective of age, are expected to abide by the norms set before them in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Readers must be aware that that wearing of ‘masks’ is mandatory and people without masks are fined if caught. Similarly, spitting in public places or even generally attracts a penalty of Rs. 1000 in the present scenario.
50-100 ex-army personnel to be dedicated to the task of monitoring Navi Mumbai’s social distancing norms
Apparently, the NMMC will be hiring between 50 to 100 ex-army personnel on contract basis and as a strategy, squads of two will be deployed at various locations around the city, including markets and other public places that are potential crowd pullers.
It must be known that presently, police teams have been monitoring all the 33 containment zones in Navi Mumbai that have been taken care of by solid waste management staff.
So, the newly appointed ex-army squad will be dedicated to non-containment areas and will be expected to enforce law in a much better way.
Covid-19-cases have spiked post Ganesh Chaturthi
As per the statistics available with the NMMC, the number of Covid-19 infections have increased post Ganesh Chaturthi in not just the city, but all over the state of Maharashtra.
Following next are the Navratri celebrations that are just around the corner and even though there would not be any dandiya or garba raas events, there could be another spike in the number of cases just like Ganesh Utsav.
Hence, there is great need to contain the growing number of cases in the earliest possible time. It is such need that has given way to the idea of deploying ex-army people as they have a way of enforcing the law in a more persuasive manner.
Collection of health data of Navi Mumbai citizens
The NMMC has constituted around 720 teams that have been collecting the health data of families and a door-to-door visit is also planned shortly in two phases. In the first phase the teams will be filling up data in the government app till October 10. In the second phase they will be visiting the houses again to recheck the health conditions. A thermal gun and an oxymeter will be used to assess the health of individuals.
Our (LocalPress.in) opinion
It looks like a good initiative given the present situation and the ignorance of many individuals, young and old, that is threatening the lives of many. It would be interesting to see how the newly appointed ex-army squad approaches such ‘ignorant idiots’ and how strictly the NMMC penalises them. It might be the right time to carry along a ‘cane’ as well for there are many unconcerned individuals who are roaming around endangering others in a blatant exploitation of their so-called right to ‘freedom’.
Last Updated on September 20, 2020 by lp@admin
