Chandigarh, Jul 17 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday asked police to take strict action against people moving around without wearing face masks.

He also directed officials of various departments to start a special campaign to motivate people to wear face masks “due to the increased risk of Covid-19 during Unlock-2”, a state government release quoting him said.

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He said that traffic intersections, vehicles of the Department of Urban Local Bodies and publicity vehicles of Department of Information, Public Relations and Languages should be deployed to spread awareness over the importance of wearing masks.

The chief minister gave the direction while presiding over a meeting of the Crisis Management Group of various departments, constituted to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

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Khattar directed the Police Department to take strict action against people without masks and fine them on the spot besides giving violators at least five masks.

In view of the upcoming Shivratri, it was decided in the meeting that permission to offer 'Gangajal' in temples, except for the containment zones, should be given as per the Union Home Ministry the guidelines on worships in temples.

The Haryana government had allowed reopening of religious places in a regulated manner across the state from June 8, except in containment zones and the hardest-hit Covid-19 districts Gurgaon and Faridabad.

Two to five persons may be allowed to enter temples through the token system at an interval of 30 minutes, the release said.

The state, at present, remains under curfew from 10 pm to 5 am.

“The time for prayers for Shivratri will be from July 19, at 7.19 pm to July 20, 5.30 am. People should be allowed to go to the temples accordingly,” it said.

The meeting also took stock of the COVID-19 situation in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)