No rest! Precautionary steps at police stations bolstered

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 5

The Punjab Police have remained at the forefront during the pandemic. The officials’ duties doubled not only as law and order enforcers, but also as relief providers.

Nevertheless, in the post-lockdown times, the policing is now more challenging as majority of the restrictions have been lifted following the initiation of unlocking process and people have become complacent. They are hardly following the government and Health Department’s advisories issued for controlling the spread of virus. In fact, a couple of states have been witnessing a resurge in the Covid cases.

But policemen continue to remain on their toes, vigilant of the threat. Over 50 people come to meet Police Commissioner Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill in order get their grievances addressed daily. However, before they meet him, all have to pass through a sanitisation tunnel to be de-infected from any potential illness, including the dreaded virus.

“It has been made mandatory for the victims and complainants to go through the sanitisation tunnel and only then are allowed entry after wearing masks,” he said, while adding that the number of visitors accompanying complainants has also been reduced as a precautionary measure.

Special glass walls have also been erected along the table of officials in order to fizzle out the chances of any physical contact. “Though I make it a point to meet every complainant to listen to their grievances, we also ensure following government’s instructions to curtail the spread,” said the Police Commissioner.

In the police stations, the visitors are asked to wear masks and sanitise their hands before meeting the SHOs. “Only limited persons are allowed to meet the officials at a time. We allow only one or two persons to accompany the victim or the complainants. We also provide the masks to those who are not wearing it,” said Neeraj Kumar, SHO Rambagh police station

Out on field duty, the cops are advised to adhere to government instructions besides ensuring distancing and wearing masks. Those arrested in different criminal cases also have to go through the testing.