NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JULY 14
A drive has been launched against ”paan” shops in Ahmedabad with over 400 such units sealed on Tuesday for violating norms, a day after the civic body announced imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on an outlet where customers are found spitting in the open, an official said.
Teams from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) also collected over Rs 7 lakh in fines from people for not wearing face masks in public after the penalty for the same was increased to Rs 500 from Rs 200 earlier to curb the spread of coronavirus, the official said.
As many as 174 teams of the civic body’s solid waste management department carried out an inspection of paan shops and sealed over 400 such units where social distancing rules were not followed and customers found spitting in the open, said director, solid waste management, AMC, Harshadray J Solanki.
Shutters of several paan shops were downed by the owners themselves out of fear that their premises will be sealed by the corporation if their customers are found not following rules aimed at checking the spread of COVID-19, he said.
There are around 20,000 such shops in the city and many smaller units selling paan, cigarettes, and paan masala, among other tobacco products, he said.
“We have carried out the drive after receiving several complaints regarding social distancing and face mask rules not being followed at paan shops, because people cannot consume paan or smoke cigarettes without removing their masks, and spitting is common there,” Solanki said.
“Across Ahmedabad, 174 teams have been working since yesterday to check compliance with rules, and we have sealed over 400 paan shops so far where rules were found to be flouted,” he said.
As part of efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the city, the AMC on Monday hiked the penalty for not wearing face masks in public. The civic body had also said paan shops where customers are found spitting will be fined Rs 10,000.
