PESHAWAR: The district administration of Peshawar on Thursday arrested 385 people, mostly traders, and sealed several pharmacies and superstores for not following the standard operating procedures enforced to prevent the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a statement issued here, Umer Pharmacy, Naik Store and Esa Electronics on University Road, Chen-One and Macro Mart on Ring Road, Madina Express, Bilal Daewoo and Faisal Movers on GT Road and Afghan Market and Baba G Market in Qissa Khwani Bazaar were sealed, while owners of many shops were fined.

Officials of the administration and provincial transport authority checked passengers and transporters at the Motorway Toll Plaza and fined many of them for not wearing face masks. Some drivers were fined for overcharging commuters.

The officials warned that they won’t spare those ignoring SOPs.

Shops sealed, transporters, commuters fined in different parts of province

They checked more than 90 filling stations in the city and arrested managers of 18 of them for hoarding petroleum products and overcharging consumers.

Also in the day, the administration of Khyber tribal district sealed 11 shops for violating SOPs here.

A statement issued by the office of the deputy commissioner said a total of Rs16,500 fine was imposed on SOP violators, while warnings were issued to 148 shopkeepers for not wearing face masks.

It said 37 taxi drivers were also issued warnings for not wearing masks.

It said it was observed during visits to markets and taxi stands on Tuesday, only 50-60 per cent of the residents took protective measures against the virus, so it had been decided to intensify regular checking of crowded places.

Meanwhile, the Mansehra district police claimed to have booked over 437 people under the National Action Plan.

A statement issued by the district police said besides the deployment of personnel at quarantine centres and ensured the enforcement of Covid-19 SOPs across the district, the police had also launched a crackdown on outlaws and achieved a record success during the last month.

It said a large cache of chars, heron and liquor was also seized and dozens of drug peddlers were held during a crackdown.

The police also arrested 14 people wanted for heinous crimes and seized unlicensed arms and ammunition from their possession.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2020