3,000 armed security personnel, private guards to keep an eye on vaccination centres

Nearly 3,000 armed security personnel along with civil defence volunteers and private security guards will form a security ring at 81 vaccination centres in Delhi, where 8,100 frontline medical warriors will receive vaccination doses on Saturday, as the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive kicks start across the country

Nearly 3,000 armed security personnel along with civil defence volunteers and private security guards will form a security ring at 81 vaccination centres in Delhi, where 8,100 frontline medical warriors will receive vaccination doses on Saturday, as the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive kicks start across the country.

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Four to five police personnel will remain present at each vaccination centre and their prime duty will be to maintain law and order and prevent people, whose names are not there in the list, gathering and insisting on getting vaccinated, senior police officers privy to the security arrangement plan said on Friday.

Apart from security personnel, deployment of patrolling vans and emergency response vehicles (ERVs) will also be done around the vaccination centres to handle any untoward or emergency situations, which the police officers believe, is unlikely because the vaccination will be done in a “staggered way”. The monitoring of the vaccination drive will be done through CCTV cameras installed at the centres, the officials said.

“Those going for the vaccination have got the time when they are required to be present at the concerned vaccination centres. Since only 100 people will be vaccinated at each centre and at different times throughout the day, the chances of over-crowding is minimal. So, the prime responsibility of our personnel will be to manage the queue and assist the staffers involved in giving the doses,” said Jasmeet Singh, deputy commissioner of police, central district which has nearly 40 vaccination centres under its territorial jurisdiction.

Since the vaccination sites are at hospitals, police said the hospital’s private security guards will also be used apart from a security cordon being provided by the Delhi Police. In some bigger government hospitals, the staff of already existing police posts will be involved in the security arrangement. All concerned beat police staffers have been directed to carry out bike and foot patrolling in and around the vaccination centres.

“Depending upon the situation and requirements, the number of police staff at the vaccination centres may be increased or decreased,” said DCP Singh.

The city police have already been taking care of all the vaccine storage centres, the transportation of the vaccines from Delhi airport and further to vaccination centres. “We have round-the-clock and adequate deployment of security personnel at the storage centres,” said deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur.