Cops get tested for Covid-19 at Singhu

On Thursday, the Covid-19 testing of three officers was done at Chilla border after they showed symptoms of the disease.

While farmers were busy chalking out strategies for the ongoing protest against the three farm laws that seek to open up agricultural trade, the police personnel stationed at Singhu border were busy queuing up for Covid-19 tests on Friday.

The protesting farmers and leaders held meetings at the four border points – Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla – throughout the day to discuss their next plan of action.With protester numbers swelling, the police also increased their deployment, especially in the wake threats by farmers to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

The testing of personnel was carried out after two senior police officers – DCP Gaurav Sharma and additional DCP Ghanshyam Bansal – who were leading the police teams contracted Covid-19. It wasn’t clear where the officers had contracted the virus but Delhi Police asked the state government to hold tests at the borders, where police personnel are stationed in large numbers.

“Tests were conducted only for the police personnel. The results will come tomorrow (Saturday),” said Ajit Singh Thakur, subdivisional magistrate (Alipur), under whose jurisdiction Singhu border falls.

Additional DCP Jitendra Kumar Meena, who led the police team on Friday in the absence Sharma and Bansal, said, “Random testing of 78 police personnel was carried out at the Singhu border on Friday. No farmer was screened for Covid-19.”

On Thursday, the Covid-19 testing of three officers was done at Chilla border after they showed symptoms of the disease.

Another senior official in the revenue department said earlier this week, the district administration had sent mobile testing vans twice to the border area with rapid antigen test kits but none of the protesting farmers had voluntarily come forward to be tested.

The protesting farmers and leaders held meetings at the four border points – Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla – throughout the day to discuss their next plan of action.With protester numbers swelling, the police also increased their deployment, especially in the wake threats by farmers to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Saturday.

Nearly 300 farmers, including women, from Gujarat and Maharashtra on Friday joined the protest at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla.

“We had left for Delhi on December 22, but were stopped by the police at many places. Since, we were adamant on proceeding to our destination, they could not hold us back for long. Hundreds of people from these two states will join us in a day or two,” said Pratibha Shinde from Maharashtra, president of Lok Sangharh Morcha (Maharashtra-Gujarat unit).

Addressing the protesting farmers at the Ghazipur-Ghaziabad (UP gate) border, Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said the government is not “taking their agitation seriously” and hence, they need to “intensify the protest”.