'Don’t Force Us To Impose Night Curfew': BMC Chief Warns Mumbaikars Ahead Of New Year

Despite the pandemic looming large over Mumbai, people are not hesitating to violate COVID-19 rules. Taking note of this, BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Monday warned that authorities may have to impose a night curfew to curb crowds.

Chahal’s statement came after the BMC on Sunday late night, fined four hotels pubs and lounge in the city, filed FIR against one of them for operating beyond the permissible time limit.

While speaking to CNBC-TV18, Chahal warned that if people continued to gather in defiance of coronavirus restrictions, the government will be forced to impose a night curfew in the city. "We are strongly against night curfew, but citizens should not create havoc around New Year’s time and force authorities to impose it," Chahal told CNBC-TV18.

Earlier on December 10, Chahal had said that a decision about permitting the general public to travel by suburban local trains in Mumbai will be taken after New Year celebrations are over. "Depending on the situation during Christmas and New Year's Eve, we can take a decision about restarting local trains," he had said.

Currently, only certain categories of persons including those working for essential services are allowed to travel by local trains, Mumbai's lifeline.

Meanwhile, Mumbai on Monday recorded 477 fresh COVID-19 cases, the second-lowest rise in a day after almost a month, taking the count of infections to 2,87,303, the city civic body said.

With seven deaths, the second-lowest in a day this month, the cumulative toll went up to 10,988, it said. Earlier, Mumbai recorded 409 new cases on November 16, the BMC said.

"After a reconciliation process on the ICMR portal 3,803 duplicate cases were removed from the progressive cases," the BMC said. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the city so far reached 21 lakh.

The number of recoveries went up to 2,66,695 with 533 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the day. The average doubling rate of cases in Mumbai now stands at 327 days, while the average growth rate of the new cases is 0.21 percent.