In order to scale up awareness against the rising number of COVID cases, Senior Superintendent of Police Navjot Singh Mahal on Thursday urged the people to strictly follow all COVID-19 fresh guidelines issued by the Punjab Government in view of spike in infections.While holding marathon meetings with Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Councillors, Sarpanches, Panches, representatives of social and religious organisations at Sadar Police Station, the SSP sought fulsome support from general masses in larger public interest for tackling the virus effectively. He said that the district police had held 55 meetings with public representatives across district during last 24 hours to disseminate maximum awareness against the Virus. He also said that special announcements were being done from different Gurdwaras and Temples in the district to spread necessary information how to save people from the impact of Corona virus. Speaking about the checking drive, Navjot Singh Mahal informed that during the last 24 hours as many as 38 FIRs had been registered including two against the Marriage Palaces for violating the stipulated guidelines. The police in last 24 hours also issued 190 challans for not wearing masks by the people, said the SSP adding that nearly 6600 challans were issued so far against the mask violation from March 19.
The state Government has issued new guidelines under which lockdown hours have been extended to 8pm to 5 am, said the SSP adding that all gyms, spas etc. have been closed as well as dine-in prohibited in hotels/restaurants besides imposing complete lockdown on Sundays. He also appealed all the stakeholders to stick to said directions without any fail in larger public interest.Apart from these, the mobile PCR team of Hoshiarpur district is checking all the gyms, dhabas and restaurants of the area to ensure strict enforcement of the preventive measures, said the SSP. Navjot Singh Mahal said that he was personally monitoring the entire COVID enforcement mechanism and the City area had been divided into four sectors. He said that the four subdivisions were being constantly monitored by the Superintendents of Police especially monitoring of micro-containment zones, nakabandis, vaccination camps, liaison with people in these areas.Urging the people to support police and civil administration in fight against COVID, the SSP said that all of us should ensure proper wearing of masks whenever we are stepping out of homes besides maintaining social distancing and frequently sanitisation of hands to keep the virus at bay.