Wearing masks made compulsory in Haryana, violators to face action: Home Minister Anil Vij

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Sunday said that wearing of face masks has been made compulsory while stepping outside homes in the state during the lockdown and anybody found violating the orders will face action as per law.

“I have issued orders with immediate effect that anyone who ventures outside home will have to wear a mask. Anyone violating the orders will face action,” Vij, who is also the Health Minister, said.

Those found violating the instructions will be punishable under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC and the police authorities are empowered to take action against the violators, he said.

“People can wear a mask or cover their face with cloth, scarves etc,” he said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar too had appealed to people across the state to wear masks whenever they venture out.

Notably, Haryana has witnessed a spike in number of COVID-19 cases in the past few days and the total number of such cases on Sunday rose to 179 including five health professionals with a doctor and two nurses among them.

The worst affected districts of the state with maximum number of positive cases are Nuh (45), Gurugram (32), Faridabad (31) and Palwal (29).

As many as 261 containment and buffer zones have been set up across the state including those falling in the four worst affected districts. These zones will be completely sealed as no movement of people inside these zones will be allowed as a measure to check the spread of infection, he said.

Vij has maintained that the spike in positive cases was due to a number of Tablighi Jamaat members testing positive.

On Sunday, he said that “107 Tablighi Jamaat members” are among those who have tested COVID-19 positive.

With a majority of private clinics closed these days, Vij urged doctors to keep the establishments open in such difficult times.

“I am appealing to private doctors. During these difficult times, they should open their clinics in the state. Over 70 per cent of them have closed their clinics. Whether government or private doctors, both will have to discharge their duties," he said.

“There are many people who suffer from ailments like diabetes, heart and kidney disease and other major and minor ailments for which they used to consult private doctors too. Many people have complained that they are unable to access the private doctors as they have shut down their clinics,” he pointed out.

The government was making an appeal to these doctors to open their clinics and provide their services, the minister said.

Replying to a question on possible measures, he said that the government can make the doctrs to open their clinics by invoking provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act. Yet, for the moment we want to request them that they should open clinics on their own, Vij said.

The minister, meanwhile, praised the way safai karamcharis (sanitary workers) are carrying out sanitisation work across the state to minimise chances of any infection in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

The minister also sought to assure that there were sufficient stocks of personal protection equipment (PPE) needed by doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in government hospitals.