Dhar: Administration team led by city magistrate Vishakha Deshmukh on Sunday conducted inspections at various busy markets in the town and imposed fine on owners of business establishments as well as the people for flouting unlock norms.
Traders and locals in turn accused Deshmukh and her team of violating the social distancing norms while delivering the duties.
Narrating their plight, traders those who were fined Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for flouting unlock norms said that there was hardly any crowd in the market since it is Sunday. Since state government and administration has revoked Sunday lockdown only a couple of days back, the locals stayed away from markets just like lockdown on Sunday.
Traders those who fined Rs 500 for not wearing a mask said that as no one at the shop, we had removed mask for a while but right then time administration team rushed to the shop and imposed fine on us.
A trader who was fined Rs 1,000 for not maintaining social distancing at his shop claimed that officials those who were present in the team are hardly bothered to maintain social distancing.
“If we raised question on this, we could face higher fine, so we kept silent,” trader said.
One sweet shop owner who was fined after one customer was found without mask at his shop said that its not his fault as customer is not wearing the mask and administration should fine him instead.
Many of the traders in the market who were looked unhappy with the action said that they hardly earn anything throughout the day and they end up paying fine for other’s mistake.
When contacted city magistrate Vishakha Deshmukh said that whatever action has been taken or fine impose on the public or traders is as per the directives issued by the government.
Deshmukh dodged question on his own team members violating the social distancing norms saying that she along with her team were following the social distancing norms.
Attempts to contact district collector Alok Kumar Singh failed.
