Chandigarh (Media Bureau) After staying out of public gaze for a long time, former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is back among people of his Assembly segment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but without the mandatory face mask.
In a video posted on a Facebook page – Jittega Punjab— run by his team, Sidhu, the sitting MLA from Amritsar (East) segment, was Friday seen meeting people to distribute ration without a face mask. A few hours later, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered police to take action against those not wearing face masks in Punjab. The state government had earlier this week made face masks mandatory for the state residents stepping out of their houses amid the curfew.
While in the video, Sidhu advises people to follow social distancing, his supporters are seen touching his feet and he is seen blessing them in return. Most of his supporters were also without masks.
On the Facebook page, where the videos have been uploaded, Sidhu has also shared a link that provides information about WHO’s advisory on use of face masks and claims that healthy persons need not wear them.
But hours after Sidhu was seen violating the state government orders, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered strict enforcement with regard to the compulsory wearing of masks in public. He asked the police to take stringent action, including imposition of challans, against violators.
While chairing a video conference to review the COVID-19 situation in the state, the Chief Minister made it clear that no compromise would be allowed and every citizen would have to mandatorily wear a mask when stepping out of home, in order the check the spread of the deadly pandemic. He directed the police to challan those found moving around without masks (home-made or otherwise) in public places, under the provisions of the Epidemic Act. He underlined the need for 100 per cent adherence to the orders on compulsory wearing of masks in public.
