Hotels to house cops, dedicated testing facility in the works

The Delhi Police has reserved 927 rooms in 67 hotels for policemen , including those in quarantine, and is working on creating a dedicated Covid-19 testing facility

The Delhi Police has reserved 927 rooms in 67 hotels for policemen , including those in quarantine, and is working on creating a dedicated Covid-19 testing facility for policemen at a police station , likely in north-east Delhi as it balances the three objectives of keeping its people safe, dealing with cases in its ranks, and going about its daily responsibilities.

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Around 550 policemen are currently staying in these hotel rooms. Till Thursday night, there were 28 positive Covid-19 cases among police personnel and at least 500 were in home-quarantine.

A senior police officer who asked not to be named said that three categories of police personnel live in such hotels. “The first group is policemen who live in containment zones or have houses out of Delhi. They are important field officers and cannot return to those locked down areas after work, so they are living in hotels. Another group is those who are quarantined and are being monitored. The third category is that of people in isolation. Some hotels have given us their premises for free, while we are paying the others. Rooms vacated by personnel who have completed the isolation period are being taken up by others, after sanitisation.”

The third group(isolation) are of those police officers who worked closely with the 28 police personnel who have tested positive. They have not shown any symptoms of Covid-19 disease.

The police are on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19 — managing containment zones, conducting checks, ensuring social distancing, even feeding the hungry.

A second officer said on condition of anonymity that booking separate facilities for the police is important because many junior personnel, carrying ranks of constables, head constables and assistant sub-inspectors, live in barracks inside police stations.

In Chandni Mahal, the police station had to be sealed after two constables, who lived in the barracks, tested positive for Covid-19. With Chandni Mahal emerging as one of the biggest containment zones in the city, the local police personnel are currently working out of the nearby Jama Masjid police station.

Special commissioner of police, Robin Hibu, confirmed that the police has made arrangements in hotels for the junior constabulary, keeping in mind their safety as well as that of their families.