New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar on Thursday termed the imposition of heavy fines by the city government for violation of COVID-19 guidelines a "daylight robbery" and demanded the over Rs 135 crore collected as penalty be disbursed to Covid warriors as compensation.

His comments came after officials on Wednesday said that Delhiites had coughed up over Rs 135 crore in fines with over eight lakh violations of Covid-appropriate behaviour norms in the last four months.

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The fines were imposed by Delhi government teams and the police.

"It is startling to note that in the last four months, government agencies have collected Rs 135 crore in fines from people for violating Covid guidelines. It is a kind of daylight robbery on people who are yet to recover from the terrible blows inflicted by COVID-19. No family could escape the ravages of the pandemic," Kumar was quoted as saying in a statement.

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"Instead of collecting Rs 2,000 and above for not wearing masks in public, the Delhi government agencies should have created Covid awareness among the people and encouraged them to follow the norms voluntarily," it added.

While government teams imposed fines of more than Rs 103 crore, the Delhi Police imposed penalties of Rs 32 crore. The police also arrested over 15,600 people in the past four months for violating guidelines, according to official data.

Kumar also alleged that both the Delhi and Central governments were prompt in "collecting fines" but were "putting hurdles" in paying compensation to Covid warriors.

He and urged the Delhi government to disburse the amount collected in penalties as compensation to the Covid warriors and to the families of those who died due to lack of oxygen in hospitals.

"The Arvind Kejriwal-led government has no right to spend the blood money for any other purpose other than compensating those who were frontline Covid warriors and those who lost their lives due to government negligence," the Delhi Congress chief said.

Official data showed that enforcement teams of the city government's revenue department and the Delhi Police booked over six lakh and two lakh people, respectively, in May-August for violating various Covid-related guidelines like not wearing masks, crowding and spitting in public places.

(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)