Social distancing norms are not being followed strictly in the steel city. The residential office of Dhalbhum sub-divisional officer (SDO) at Northern Town in Bistupur is a case in point.

Those seeking temporary vehicle passes were on Saturday seen queuing up in front of a counter specially opened to provide the facility on an emergency basis.

Over a dozen people wearing face masks were spotted standing very close to each other while a dozen others were seen loitering nearby.

Rajan Mahanty, who was standing in the queue, said he wanted a temporary pass.

“I have a food supply business, but I can’t run it in the absence of a vehicle pass. I came here with an application and stood in the queue for over half an hour before submitting it. I was asked to come on Monday to take the pass. But I don’t think I can stand in such a crowded queue again,” Mahanty said.

Mahanty said he wanted to let the SDO know how social-distancing norms were being flouted at will near his residence, but dropped his plan because the SDO was not present.

Dhalbhum SDO Chandan Kumar admitted that problem. “I have personally dispersed people crowding near my residential office for vehicle passes, but the situation goes back to square one after some time,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

The SDO said they had put in place a process of issuing the vehicle passes online, but when applicants failed to meet the criteria, leading to rejections, they started to queue up near his office.

Kumar said he would try to enforce social distancing strictly from now on.

Some residents pointed out that cops who turned a blind eye to such blatant violations of lockdown rules, suddenly became proactive while dealing with morning walkers.

Police have allegedly implicated a number of people for failing to maintain social distance while distributing food to the poor.

Such cases have been registered against over a dozen volunteers and activists of political parties in Kadma, Telco and Sitaramdera police station in the past four days.