Gurugram: Cops susceptible to Covid to be kept away from outdoor duties

The Gurugram police are planning to make an age-appropriate roster of personnel deployed on various duties to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease

The Gurugram police are planning to make an age-appropriate roster of personnel deployed on various duties to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease among them, with those above 50 years of age to be kept away from containment zones in view of the rising number of cases in its ranks. So far, 50 Gurugram police have tested positive for Covid-19.

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The police personnel are involved in enforcing the rules in the containment zones, in hospital duties and borders which leaves them vulnerable.

At present, of the police personnel deployed across the city, 500 are above the age of 50 years while 1,000 are between the ages of 40 and 50 years. These have been asked to work from office spaces and have not been assigned outdoor tasks, said the police.

Officials said at least 4,500 police personnel in the district are under the age of 40 years. There are around 6,000 police personnel in total, apart from 990 special police officers and 1,060 home guards deployed across the city.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said they have decided to deploy police personnel above 50 years of age indoors where they will not be dealing with the public and will have minimum direct contact with people, considering their higher vulnerability to being infected with the Sars-Cov-2 virus. “I have asked the deputy commissioner of the areas concerned to prepare the data of personnel deployed in their jurisdictions with details of their current deployment. We will finalise the rotation of duties after analysing the data,” he said.

Akil said meanwhile, the district police shall not, to the best extent possible, deploy personnel with enhanced medical risk factors, be it age or pre-existing medical conditions. “We are taking all due precautions and are regularly advising our staff about the safety protocols against the pandemic,” he said.

The initiative was taken after a 58-year-old inspector, posted in Gurugram, succumbed to Covid-19 at a private hospital in Sector 51 on June 10. He was the first police personnel to die of Covid-19 in the district.

Seeing a rise in the number of coronavirus cases among police personnel, the health department had screened nearly 600 personnel, deployed across the city for lockdown duties, thrice in the past 14 days. Also, around 600 family members of police personnel living at police lines in Gurugram and Manesar were screened after some policemen tested positive in the first week of June.

Police said of the 50 personnel who tested positive, 40 are presently in home-isolation while the rest are at a quarantine facility at police lines in Manesar. “We had set up the isolation ward in a newly constructed building in Manesar to safeguard the force and their family members from vulnerability to the Covid-19 infection. All facilities are provided to the force to tackle this tough situation,” said Akil.

The officer also said that all police personnel deployed on high risk duties are provided with body protective gear, triple-layer masks, gloves and sanitisers.

Akil said that the police officers deployed at hot spots, containment zones, Isolation wards, Covid hospitals are directed to wear PPE suits, which are certified by the Union ministry of health.

“Policemen, who come in close contact with patients while carrying out debriefing, contact tracing or tracking positive patients, are being screened by the health department and samples of their family members and close contacts are being collected,” he said.

The Gurugram police force currently has nearly 3 lakh face masks, 1.5 lakh gloves, 2 lakh hand sanitizers and 30,000 soaps and hand washes in stock.

Akil said all efforts were being made to ensure that police personnel are safe from the Covid-19 infection.