Ganjam district Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange has advised the people of Ganjam to use umbrellas as it helps maintain social distancing in addition to beating the heat.
Kulange shared a cartoon picture in a twitter post, illustrating how a brolly enforces a certain distance between two people and can thereby help contain the spread of coronavirus.
“I thought that an umbrella automatically creates social distancing for the user. If one uses an umbrella, it will automatically create a distance of 1.5 metres from another person. This apart, use of umbrella will also help beat the heat,” said Kulange.
“Besides, people have to abide by norms such as wearing masks and washing hands frequently, as there is no medicine or vaccines for COVID-19 yet,” he added.
Notably, Kulange was the first officer in Odisha to make masks mandatory after the COVID-19 outbreak. He had introduced the rule of “no mask, no grocery” in his district. The Ganjam collector has also instructed officials to penalize anyone spitting in public places.
Meanwhile, the state home department has instructed the Commissionerate of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, to impose fines on violation of social distancing norms in the twin-city.
“Officers above the rank of ASI of Police are hereby empowered for compounding offenses under these regulations which includes a fine that may extend to ₹500,” said an order from the home department.
This new regulation will come into effect from May 1 and remain for 60 days.