The local administration in most of the districts in the country is working relentlessly to ensure mask-wearing in all public places to fight the deadly disease Covid-19.
The praiseworthy initiatives of the local administration is raising awareness among locals about the disease.
In Barisal, mobile courts, led by three executive magistrates, have operated different drives in various areas of the city and have fined 62 people a total of Tk 11,200 for not wearing masks.
The drives were conducted from Tuesday morning to afternoon, at various important points of the city, including Bibir Pukur, Sadar Road and Chawkbazar area.
Executive magistrate of Barisal District Administration Subrata Kumar Das, spokesperson of the district administration, said the campaign was aimed at making people aware of the corona pandemic.
In Moulvibazar, mobile courts led by the district administration have made drives in at least 20 areas of the district and fined Tk27,150 under 162 cases against people for not wearing masks at public places.
On their day-long drive on Tuesday they also gifted masks to residents and pedestrians in different areas of Kusum Bag, Adalatpara, Bejbari Mour to ensure that common people wore masks at all times in public places.
“We are working day and night to raise awareness among the locals about the deadly disease and we will continue to do so until the whole area becomes Covid-19 free,” said Deputy Commissioner of the district Mir Nahid.
In Khulna, at least 311 people were detained in the last 14 days by the various mobile courts operating in the district to ensure mask-wearing in all public places.
At least Tk1,50,000 were collected as fine under 295 cases to raise awareness among the people about the deadly disease Covid-19.
In a different approach, the local administration is donating masks among the under-priviledged people from the money it collected as fines from the privileged residents of the city.
On Monday, mobile courts led by Deputy Magistrate Md Rakibul Hasan, Debashish Basak, Deepa Rani Sarker and Noori Tasmin fined 39 people a sum of Tk18,800 for not wearing masks at public places.
One such passenger of a local bus, Russel Shikder said: “I forgot to bring my mask today and I had to pay a fine. It is a good initiative as people like me will realise the disadvantage of not wearing a mask.”
“We are risking our lives as well as others,” he said.
According to district administration sources, they have collected a sum of Tk20,00,000 in fines from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic till now from the public for disregarding the safety measures taken by the administration.
In Jamalpur, in a different approach the upazila administration of Bakshiganj has gifted each pedestrian who wore a mask a stick of Rajanigandha flowers to encourage them further.
The mobile court, led by UNO Munmun Jahan Liza, also fined eight people and forced some others to buy and use masks to raise awareness among locals on Tuesday.
“We are enforcing zero tolerance to ensure mask-wearing at all times in public. We are doing it so that the virus cannot affect more people in the district,” said UNO Munmun.
