Paramilitary, armed Delhi Police men to guard all vaccine storage sites in Delhi

Outlining the Capital’s plan for the first phase of the vaccine roll-out, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said last week that the government had identified 5.1 million people who will be the first to get Covid-19 shots under the Central government’s “priority category”

Armed personnel from paramilitary forces, along with officers of Delhi Police, will keep a hawk-like vigil at all storage centres in the city, where the Covid-19 vaccines will be stored in bulk in the city.

A health worker holds a syringe during a mock drill and dry run of Covid-19 vaccination at a model Covid-19 vaccination centre in Ansari Road, New Delhi, India. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

In the last few days, Delhi police officers have held many meetings with the state government on the transportation and storage of the vaccine once it reaches the national Capital.

A senior police officer, privy to the details, said,” Currently there is a security audit of all the 600 plus places where the vaccines will be stored, which include primary, secondary and tertiary stores. At the primary units, which will store the vaccine in large quantities, paramilitary forces and Delhi police personnel will secure the premises. The security audit of the other places is on to ensure that there are no law-and-order problems.”

The reports of the security audit, which has already started, will be shared with the district deputy commissioners of police for necessary action. The number of police teams at each store will depend on the findings of the audit. At places there are CCTVs which are non-functional. Some other places are poorly lit. Police have mentioned all such shortcomings and are working with government agencies to fix them.

All such security loopholes will be fixed in a week, the first police officer said.

A second police officer, who did not wish to be named, compared the security of the primary storage centres to that of polling booths or centres where ballot boxes are kept.

“Outside the main centres, local police will ensure that there is no traffic congestion or crowding. There will be barricades and CCTV cameras will monitor all the main gates. The happenings inside the main centres will be relayed to the control room in real-time. In smaller centres, it is important to ensure that only registered people come for the vaccination drive. In congested colonies, it is possible that unregistered local residents visit the centre and ask authorities to give them the vaccine shots first. At such specified locations, a quick reaction team will be present,” the second officer said.

Police have also drafted a detailed transportation plan for the safety of the vaccine. Special commissioner of police (operations) Muktesh Chander said vans from the Police Control Room will escort and tail the vehicle in which the vaccine is transported. “We are yet to be intimated about the day when the vaccines will arrive. It can come by train, by road or by air. But the security protocol will stay the same. PCR vans will escort and tail it. The traffic police on the road will also create a traffic-free corridor. The local police will guard the storage centres round-the-clock. This drill will be followed even when the vaccine is transferred from the primary to the local ones.”

Outlining the Capital’s plan for the first phase of the vaccine roll-out, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said last week that the government had identified 5.1 million people who will be the first to get Covid-19 shots under the Central government’s “priority category”. The chief minister said that registration is currently underway for people identified in three priority categories – health care workers, front line workers and at-risk population – and an SMS will be sent to a person’s mobile number notifying them about the date, time and place of vaccination.

Following the chief minister’s announcement, the 80,000 strong Delhi police had started a registration drive and begun updating the phone number of all members of the force. Special commissioner Chander, said that police have also given details of the date of birth of each police officer.

“It is an automatic process, in which those above 50 will be the first to get the vaccine shots. Apart from that we also sought information from police personnel who are below 50 years in age but have co-morbidities,” he added.