Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao instructed officials on Thursday to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 on people who do not wear masks, an official release said. The Chief Minister participated in a video conference organised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and later held a review meeting with health officials on the current coronavirus situation in the state.
The Chief Minister, who met with ministers and top officials, said that wearing of masks should be enforced strictly to contain the spread of the pandemic. KCR instructed the officials to increase the number of COVID-19 tests, as there was a surge in the number of cases. He said all the frontline workers should be vaccinated and the entire process should be completed in a week.
"The Chief Minister said that for the curtailment of coronavirus, the wearing of masks should be implemented strictly. If the people do not wear masks, they should be fined Rs 1,000 per person," the official release from the Chief Minister’s Office said. He urged all those who crossed the age limit of 45 years to get vaccinated. The CM wanted the Director General of Police (DGP) to instruct the police department to enforce this mask rule strictly.
KCR spoke to DGP M Mahender Reddy, Principal Secretary (Panchayat Raj) Sandeep Sultania, Principal Secretary (municipal administration and urban development) Arvind Kumar, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Lokesh Kumar, and Principal Secretary (Transport) Sri Sunil Sharma over the phone. The CM instructed that the staff and employees in these departments should be vaccinated. The CM also instructed that the vaccination progress should be reported to the CMO every day by the heads of the concerned departments.
He said Collectors and other district level officers should hold a videoconference and launch a special drive for vaccinations. The CM instructed the medical and health officials to set up test centres in Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Khammam, Nirmal, Mancherial, Kamareddy, Sangareddy, Medak, Jagtial, Peddapalli, Ramagundam, Bhongir, Jangaon, and Vikarabad.
PTI and IANS inputs