Delhi : Traffic cops won’t issue fine for spitting, mask violations

New Delhi: The traffic police will no longer book people for not wearing a mask or spitting in public, focusing instead on traffic management and traffic violations due to the sudden spurt in the vehicular volume after Delhi Metro resumed services from Monday. A traffic officer said on Tuesday that an order of the police headquarters put the onus of managing the Covid-19 norms to the local police. So far, Delhi Police has fined over 27,000 people for not wearing masks and over 3,000 for spitting in public areas.

In an order issued by the deputy commissioner of police, traffic (headquarters), it has been decided that the traffic police would not haul up people found violating the face mask rule or or spotted spitting in public. “All Covid-related challan books issued to traffic ranges are to be returned immediately to the stationery-in-charge by September 7 for onward transmission to C&T branch,” the order signed by the DCP said. The order came into immediate effect and a wireless message on the implementation was also sent to all zonal heads and traffic inspectors.

The new operational change was made in consideration of the increase in the volume of traffic in the last few weeks. The re-opening of Delhi Metro on Monday also indicated an increase in the vehicular movement. “During the peak hours, traffic regulation is more important because even emergency vehicles occasionally get stuck in the jams. In such cases, stopping cars for violating mask and spitting rules only disrupts the traffic flow and causes further snarls,” explained a traffic officer. “This is why it was decided that the traffic police would focus on regulation of vehicular movement and leave the Covid violations to the local police.”

So far, Delhi Police has issued 27,71,31 challans for mask violation and 2,434 for spitting in public places. Recently, several people had taken to Twitter and complained about traffic police booking them for not wearing a mask even when they were the sole occupants of the car.