Hyderabad: The city police continues to file thousands of cases against lockdown violations, with the Hyderabad police alone booking 9,552 cases on Friday alone (until 6 p.m.). Similarly, until Saturday morning, the Rachakonda police (from May 12 to 29) booked a staggering 41,990 cases against the public for various violations of the lockdown guidelines.
The crackdown against violators in the city (under the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates) started from May 12, after the state Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy warned the public to not take the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown lightly. Since then the cops have been going to town and issuing challans against violators.
The heavy fines of Rs.1000 to Rs.1500 come in spite of the public already being financially burdened due to a tought economic situation caused by the lockdown and the impact COVID-19 has had on the state’s economy. Out of the total 56,466 cases booked by the Rachakonda police, 41,990 were for violating the lockdown, while 11,638 cases were for not wearing a mask or not wearing it properly, 1,823 cases of not maintaining social distance, 601 for large gathering and 414 for public consumption of liquor, pan,gutka and other tobacco products.
According to Rachakonda police, 13,490 vehicles have also been from lockdown violators in its jurisdiction.
In the Hyderabad commissionerate, out of the 9,552 cases booked as for May 28, 8,016 were for violating the lockdown, 1,088 for masks, 367 for not maintaining social distance, 55 for large gathering cases and 26 for consumption of liquor/pan/gutka and other tobacco products in public. According to the Hyderabad Police, 6,514 vehicles were seized by the cops.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar on Saturday also inspected the check post at Madina x Road in the Old City area. Speaking to the media, he said that the people of Hyderabad are very supportive of the lockdown, which has been running efficiently with the cooperation of the public for the past 16 days.
“I would like to thank all the people of South Zone. We urge the public to cooperate with the police. There are 25 important police check posts in the South Zone. Police are on duty 24/7 at 180 Police check posts across Hyderabad city. We are registering cases against lockdown violators and also issuing challans also. Senior Police officers are conducting inspections at all important junctions in Hyderabad,” Kumar added.