Over 6,000 people, 1200 vehicle owners challaned for not wearing face mask in Noida

The checking in Noida comes days after a private bus was looted by robbers at the gunpoint on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura district on Monday night.

Noida: Over 6,000 people and more than 1200 vehicle owners have been penalised for not wearing a face mask and not adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols in Noida and Greater Noida on Friday.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar Police said that challans were issued to owners of over 1,200 vehicles for flouting COVID-19 protocols and traffic rules. 23 vehicles were impounded in the action, the police said.

"As many as 6,006 people who were found without face masks in public places were issued challans and Rs 6 lakh collected from them in fines,’’ a police spokesperson said. "Action was taken under Section 188 (disobeying government order) against 77 people and FIRs were lodged in 30 such cases," the official added.

Challans were issued against owners of 1,262 vehicles and Rs 1.63 lakh collected from them in fines while 27 vehicles impounded, the police said. Besides checking for face masks, vehicles were checked for traffic rules like usual routine, the police added.

The checking comes days after a private bus was looted by robbers at the gunpoint on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura district on Monday night.

At least six robbers boarded a private bus, going from Noida to Hamirpur in east Uttar Pradesh, at gunpoint in the Surir police station area of Mathura and robbed the passengers. According to the police, the robbers looted the passengers of their cash, jewellery and mobile phones. The incident happened around 1 AM. 

Shirish Chandra Superintendent of Police (Rural), Mathura said bus conductors were not allowed to pick passengers on the expressway. On Thursday, 3,364 people were penalised across the district for not wearing face masks in public places, while challans were also issued to owners of 1,685 vehicles, the police said. 

Amid a surge in cases of COVID-19, the district police is now carrying out announcements in public places and patrolling crowded places to raise awareness about the situation.