As citizens continue to flout the COVID-19 protocols, especially that of wearing masks and social distancing, Assam Police have launched a crackdown on the violators.

Terming such violations as ‘foolish’, Assam Police Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta asked the people of the state to wear masks or face consequences.

Police have been penalizing the violators across the state.

The police chief said, “Some people in the state think themselves as heroes by not wearing a mask. This is a foolish behaviour and they are risking their own lives.”

“So I urge people to wear a mask and save lives,” he said.

The DGP also took to his twitter to raise this issue and tweeted about the negligence of people wearing masks.

Jumping into the action, Assam Police have been at work and imposed fine on citizens caught without masks or face cover.

In a similar drive, Tangla Police started to penalize a sum of Rs 500 from those who were either not wearing masks or wearing them improperly.

The Tangla Police have carried out extensive drives in Tangla town and its adjoining areas to catch the maskless wayfarer and those travelling in groups in private and public vehicles without masks.

Sub-Inspectors of police A Goswami and Upen Chandra Barman led the drive with the help of traffic police and caught a number of citizens without masks on Saturday.

Those who were found violating the norms were imposed fine of Rs.500 under the section of Disaster Management Act and IPC.

“It is not a revenue-generating exercise rather public health and safety of the people is our prime concern,” said Upen Chandra Barman who also offered masks to a number of maskless wayfarers including students and senior citizens.

Shajid Khan is Northeast Now Correspondent in Udalguri. He can be reached at: [email protected]