The Odisha Police has fined167 persons for not wearing masks while venturing out of their houses amid the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, a senior officer said on Tuesday.The fines were imposed by the Commissionerate of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack as per the state government rules which made it mandatory for people to wear masks while coming out of their houses in the twin cities, he said.Offenders are fined Rs 200 for each of the first three violations and Rs 500 for every violation after that, the officer said.A total of 1,145 vehicles were also seized on Monday, he said.The police has asked people not to use vehicles while coming out of their houses for buying essential items and instead walk to nearest shop, the officer said.The state government on April 9 made wearing of masks mandatory to check the spread of novel coronavirus."People were made aware of the rule for two days and police personnel even distributed masks at several places. The fines were imposed later," Commissioner of Police, Sudhanshu Sarangi said.On the other hand, all the 1,600 petrol pumps in the state are denying fuel to people without masks, Utkal Petroleum Dealers Association general secretary Sanjay Lath said."The masks will protect both the consumers and the hundreds of petrol pump employees who are working during the lockdown," he added.
