Pune: Dr Ravindra Shisve, Joint Commissioner of Pune Police has issued a video message and clarified that 'family members on bikes' still need to wear masks while commuting in the city.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pune Police have exempted citizens travelling in their privately owned cars from wearing masks while commuting. However, this exemption has a condition that the persons sitting inside the privately owned cars should belong to the same family.

Dr Shisve tried to clear the confusion in the minds of citizens by issuing a video message.

In his video message, Joint Commissioner of Police Dr Shisve said, "The rule regarding mandatory wearing of masks has been slightly modified. If members of a family are travelling together in their privately owned car then they need not wear a mask and the police will not take action against them."

"However, citizens are required to wear masks while commuting in rented cars, taxi services like Ola, Uber and others. Even while using two-wheelers, wearing a mask is still mandatory, even if the members belong to the same family," Dr Shisve clarified.

"Even though the orders are issued and legally binding on us, I appeal citizens to follow the guidelines in the future too as we have been successful in preventing the spread of coronavirus by using the masks in public places. We have to continue with this healthy practice of wearing masks in order to keep our city safe in the future too," Dr Shisve has appealed.