Fact Check: Will BMC stop fining those not wearing masks in Mumbai?

A report doing the rounds of social media claims that Mumbaikars will no longer be penalised for not wearing face masks in public. The report says that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked mask marshal not to strictly enforce punitive action, further adding, the COVID-19 situation in the state and capital, Mumbai, is in control.

This is a false claim and wearing of masks remains compulsory in public places and the civic body has not announced otherwise.

City’s clean-up marshals who were assigned the dedicated task of penalising people for not wearing face masks in public during the pandemic will now move to their routine work of fining citizens who litter in public, spit, as the BMC ended the contract with agencies which hired these marshals who fined those not complying with the mask mandate.

According to officials from the BMC, the contract ended two weeks ago and now the civic body is reconsidering the decision of hiring clean-up marshals again. A senior official from the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department said that a decision will be taken soon.

In case clean-up marshals’ services are discontinued, the responsibility of fining citizens for not wearing face masks could be given to the civic body’s nuisance detectors (ND).

Wearing masks in public has been made mandatory by BMC after the spread of covid-19, since March 2020, and a fine of ₹200 is imposed on those without masks in public places. Masks can only be removed in restaurants, eateries, and bars, at the time of eating. During the Covid waves, there were controversies over the recovery of fines by Clean Up marshals in some parts of the city.

The clean-up marshals fine citizens Rs 200 for not wearing masks. In the last-one-and-half years, the clean-up marshals have fined more than 35 lakh citizens and collected over Rs 80 crore as penalty.