All police stations in Delhi will have a dedicated team to check violations of Covid-19 regulations like wearing of masks, as the traffic wing has been withdrawn from such duties and asked to focus on maintaining vehicular movement that is returning to near normal.
No other police personnel will be allowed to issue challans in this regard.
So far, the Delhi Traffic Police was given the mandate of issuing challans for spitting in public, not wearing masks and violating social distancing norms among others that were put in place to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
An order issued by the traffic wing said that it has been decided that traffic police shall not challan any person for not wearing masks or spitting in public places etc.
According to an order issued by the office of Delhi Police Commissioner, the traffic police will concentrate on regulating the traffic and should not be assigned the task of prosecuting public for violating Covid-19 protocol.
"The primary attention (of traffic police) shall be regulating traffic in view of near normalcy of traffic on the roads. As regards prosecution for traffic violations, they shall concentrate on those violations which affect the security of road users," it said.
The order said each police station should assign one "dedicated" team in uniform in one particular location to prosecute violators.
"The district Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) shall select one area/location by rotation where the violation is noticed for prosecution under the supervision of the Inspector for the concerned police station," it said.
As such, one dedicated team from all police stations should be on duty at one location from 10 AM to 6 PM.
The order has made it clear that other police personnel, who are deployed for checking at pickets, patrolling and those engaged in crime control, should not prosecute people for violations of Covid-19 regulations.
They should "concentrate" on crime control and law and order management and should not be issued challan books, it said. All challan books available with district/traffic policemen shall be taken back and kept in safe custody under the knowledge of concerned Deputy Commissioners of Police.
According to Delhi Police data, a total of 3,06,693 challans were issued till 4 pm on September 8. This includes 2,77,131 challans for not wearing masks, 2,434 for spitting in public places and 26,116 for violating social distancing.