Mumbai: Tables turned on clean-up marshals

Deservedly criticised for their high-handedness during normal times, BMC’s enforcers are now facing increasingly abusive behaviour at the hands of citizens

I used to work at a diamond factory, which shut down during the pandemic. I am now a clean-up marshal. Humiliation, insult and rudeness have become a routine in my life now,” Sanjay Jadhav, 42, told mid-day on Friday as he screened people for violations at Marine Drive. Many marshals, hired by the BMC to enforce the mandatory mask rule, are having a harrowing experience collecting fines.

BMC marshal Sanket Shinde outside CSMT on Friday

Jadhav said, “The treatment which we get from the public is just beyond my imagination.” Hundreds of clean-up marshals hired by the BMC are out at railway stations and places with scope of crowding, ensuring people wear their masks and penalising those found without one. Each has a target of penalising 10 people daily. The task might not seem tough, but the marshals face a harrowing experience collecting fines.

Sanket Shende, 28, who is posted at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, said, “Our day starts with humiliation and ends with insults. Out of the 10, eight offenders don't accept that they were not wearing a mask or it had slipped when caught. Only a handful of people accept their mistake and pay the fine."

Kiran Chavhan, also working at the same location, said, “This morning, I spotted a person without a mask and took a video of him. When I approached him, he said he's in the customs department and can’t be fined.”

“A similar incident happened when I caught an Army jawan. How can your job allow you to break the rules?" he asked. "Police are our only saving grace. They support us. If someone refuses to pay the penalty, we take that person to a nearby police station and the officers take appropriate action,” Chavhan added.

BMC marshal Sanjay Jadhav at Marine Drive on Friday

Padmavati Nadar lost her job when her company laid off several employees. Now, she works as a clean-up marshal at Marine Drive. 

“Sometimes I wonder why there is so much reluctance in wearing a mask. People come to Marine Drive for fresh air and the scene. But we must follow the rules.”

Many clean-up marshals said that when the fine was '1,000, people would there was fear among the public, but not anymore as the fine now is '200.

Komal Ghusale whose posting is at Nariman Point, shared, “Once I caught a person without a mask and he asked me why we were begging for money. He paid the fine when I told them we work for the BMC and carry an authentic ID, but left without putting on his mask.

“People talk rudely and don't admit their mistakes. They don't understand that if anyone around them is infected with Coronavirus, they are at risk,” she added.

One woman clean-up marshal at Bycylla, requesting anonymity, said, “Yesterday [Thursday], I caught a maskless person at the railway station and asked for the fine. He took out '200 from his pocket and threw it in my face and abused me. We can't use force. We can do nothing about it.”

10
No. of people each marshal has to fine daily

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