50% of fines collected from Mumbaiites for not wearing masks to go for civic works: BMC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will utilise half of the ₹64.11 crore collected from penalising 3.1 million people for not wearing a mask on development works and health services, among others.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said 50% of this amount is being streamlined to BMC’s common fund, which is used for various development projects and Covid-related expenses. He also said that the remaining 50% of the money is being used to pay the agencies that supply marshals to BMC.

“Instead of paying direct salaries to the marshals and their agencies, we have offered half of the fine money to them as payment. At present, there are 12 agencies appointed by BMC and each of them is being given the responsibility of deploying marshals in two municipal wards,” Kakani added.

In 2020, BMC deployed its officials for collecting fines and paid 10% of the daily fine amount as an incentive to employees and their departments. “The remaining money is being used in development works across departments just like how we use the money from property tax and water bills,” he said.

Besides this, the BMC data also shows an additional ₹13.26 crore has been collected by Mumbai Police from citizens for not wearing masks. Kakani added that 50% of this amount will be transferred to the Mumbai Police Welfare Fund and the remaining is being deposited in BMC’s common kitty.

He further said that the idea of imposing penalties was not about generating revenue and the fine amount in Mumbai is much less as compared to the other parts of the state.