Violating Health Guidelines: Mobile courts to start penalising within days

Mobile courts will initiate drives in Dhaka within two to three days to make sure that people wear facemasks and follow other health rules, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said yesterday.

He added that the prime minister instructed the authorities concerned to be stricter in enforcing the health guidelines and take more precautionary measures against the spread of the coronavirus.

"We've issued the directive to the mobile courts and asked law enforcement agencies to be stricter … hopefully you'll see the measures in the next two or three days," Anwarul said, when his attention was drawn to the fact that many were not wearing masks in public places.

The secretary was briefing reporters on yesterday's cabinet meeting held virtually with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. She joined the meeting from the Gono Bhaban while her cabinet colleagues took part from the secretariat.

On October 25, the government asked public and private organisations not to provide services to people who would not wear facemasks, in an attempt to fight the possible second wave of the virus in the coming winter.

BRTA DRIVE

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) directed its mobile courts to intensify drives to ensure that people wear masks while travelling in public transport like buses and minibuses.

The BRTA will also request the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges to write to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division for the introduction of "No mask, No Fuel system" at filling stations.

The decisions came at a BRTA meeting held on November 9 at the directives of the cabinet division, BRTA sources said yesterday.

The move came at a time when most transport workers and passenger do not care to use masks.

BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder said they already sent letters to the associations of transport owners and workers, asking them to make sure that all workers and passengers wear facemasks. Otherwise, no one would be allowed to board the vehicles, he warned.

 "We've also instructed our executive magistrates to intensify their mobile court drives in this regard," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said his office also sent letters to all of their divisional and district level offices to ensure the "No Mask, No Service" policy.

THE CABINET MEET

The cabinet yesterday approved the Bangla and English drafts of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, a proposal to ratify draft "Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters between Bangladesh and Turkey", and the Bangla and English drafts on "National Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Preparedness and Response plan".

"The plan has been taken up for the Rooppur Power Plant. … There is a requirement of the International Atomic Energy Commission for preparing safety guidelines and response plan before the plant operation. Otherwise, they will not allow it to open," said the secretary.

"The guideline is prepared according to the structure of IAEA," he said.

He also said the disaster and relief ministry plays a key role in tackling disasters. The plan is prepared, keeping other interconnected disasters in mind.

Saying that the country lacked the idea on nuclear-related disasters, he said the proposed document would help fulfil the gap. "…. enough manpower, including from the armed forces, will be trained to deal with such disasters," he said.

The cabinet secretary added that the government approved the National Financial Inclusion Strategy as part of its vision to digitise financial activities. He said the government has taken up many stimulus packages to recover from the financial disaster caused by the pandemic. Money under the packages has been distributed through banking channels, which have met the target of including a vast portion of people in the digital financial system.

Regarding the contract with Turkey, he said once the deal was finalised, Bangladesh would be able to earn a huge revenue from exports.