Gurugram Police helping seniors, women living alone restores faith in system

It was 3pm on Wednesday when 81-year-old Punjab Singh started feeling breathless. He walked to his table to take his nebulisation capsule but could not find one.

It was 3pm on Wednesday when 81-year-old Punjab Singh started feeling breathless. He walked to his table to take his nebulisation capsule but could not find one. He tried calling a chemist but had no numbers saved as he does not use a mobile phone. He stepped out for help, but returned as he could not see a soul on the road.

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“I was feeling helpless and called the police control room for emergency. They asked me the name of the medicine and took down my details. I thought I might need to visit the hospital, but then the door bell rang and two policemen, one of them holding a brown paper bag, stood there. I paid them for the medicine, but I had no words of gratitude for the assistance offered,” Singh said.

Wishing Singh well, the police personnel shared with him their mobile numbers, which they wrote on a piece of paper and told Singh him to keep it on his table. He was expressly told to contact them in case of any emergency. Singh said they also asked him to exercise social distancing and advised him not to move out.

The 81-year-old gentleman is just one of the tens of people the Gurugram Police have helped since the 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus.

City’s residents have been turning to the police for their daily needs and, to their delight, the police have been obliging.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said he has directed all the station house officers (SHOs) of the 41 police stations across Gurugram to ensure all residents, especially senior citizens and women living alone, get assistance.

As per the initiative, citizens in need can call the police helpline (112) in case of an emergency or if they require assistance getting essentials they can’t find. The police helpline will route the call to the police station of the relevant jurisdiction and the SHO would then be in-charge of arranging for the item(s) required.

For instance, take the case of a 23-year-old woman who lives alone in an apartment on Golf Course Road. The IT executive had high fever and cough—two key symptoms of coronavirus—and had to call the police for help after her neighbours refused to share a bottle of drinking water. “I was very unwell. I had high fever and cough. My neighbours thought I was down with coronavirus and complained against me and even harassed me. Due to the lockdown, my friends and relatives could not come to attend to me. The police were my only hope. They not only delivered the essentials I needed, but also took me to the hospital and dropped me back home,” said Anjali Khatri.

Akil said they have received 279 distress calls for help since the lockdown period was imposed to check community spread of Covid-19. So far, residents in Sector 17, 56, 57, 43, Sushant Lok- 1, Sector 15, 23, Golf Course Road and Palam Vihar have sought help, police said.

NO HELP FROM NEIGHBOURS

The assistance offered by the Gurugram Police is reflective of their sensitivity in these testing times, be it helping an 80-year-old retired army officer in Sector 43 to get milk or assisting the domestic help of city’s senior residents reach work and back home.

In Sector 71, a couple were forced to turn to the police to bring their maid to their house under supervision. “Our children live abroad. Due to the lockdown they cannot return and our house help also can’t come to help us. We can no longer do our daily household chores. I contacted the police and requested for their intervention. Since Tuesday (day 1 of the lockdown) the Badshahpur police have been picking up and dropping my domestic help. They even told our neighbours to not trouble us,” said 77-year-old Rashmi Singh who lives with his wife.

Though known for its MNCs and young working population, the city also has a sizeable population of senior citizens who are being able to live on their own because of the services provided by domestic helps.

Eighty-eight-year-old Madhu Sharma has been living alone in Sushant Lok 1 for three years. Her children live abroad and she settled in Gurugram after her husband’s death. Sharma has three domestic helps who live in a slum close by. But, due to the ongoing lockdown her help wasn’t coming home. Sharma was finding it difficult to even meet her daily needs as she is not tech-savvy and does not know how to operate a smartphone.

“With difficulty, I manage to clean my house and survive on bread. I approached my neighbours but didn’t get help after which I called my daughter who advised me to speak with the police,” she said.

Sharma called the police control room and narrated her ordeal following which two constables came to her residence and took the list of groceries and medicines and returned with supplies after an hour. They were carrying a dinner pack and even cooked food for her. “I was touched with this gesture, I refused to accept but they got the plate from the kitchen, served me food and water and left after I ate. They even washed my plate; this was beyond anything I could ever imagine,” she said.

Inspector Mukesh Kumar, in-charge of Badhshpur police station, said helping the residents does not take much time away from policing. He said he has assigned the task to three constables, including a woman, who visit homes and resolve issues.

“I am mostly receiving calls for help from residents, especially older people, who say neighbours are not supporting them and instead threatening them with police action if they step out. Worst affected are those who have cough or fever and live alone,” he said.