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133,730 FIRs registered, 27,446 arrested for violating Covid-19 lockdown in Maharashtra
Assistant inspector general of police (law and order) Vinayak Deshmukh said on Monday that were 277 instances of police parties being attacked since the lockdown began, in which 858 personnel were injured.
The Maharashtra Police have registered 133,730 offences and arrested 27,446 people for violating the Covid-19 lockdown since restrictions on movements were imposed across the nation to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
The state police also seized 83,970 vehicles and collected ₹8.41 crore in fines from offenders.
While strictly implementing the lockdown, the police came face to face with many citizens who didn’t follow the rules and several places in Maharashtra witnessed clashes between police and citizens. In such situations, police carried out what officials said were mild baton charges, and many police personnel were wounded.
Assistant inspector general of police (law and order) Vinayak Deshmukh said on Monday that were 277 instances of police parties being attacked since the lockdown began, in which 858 personnel were injured.
Police believe citizens have now become aware of the pandemic and are alerting authorities if they see any person violating the lockdown as such actions raise the possibility of the disease spreading. As a result, there has been a steady rise in the number of Covid-19-related calls on the police helpline number 100.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh tweeted on Monday that 104,040 calls had been received at the state police control room.
Police say they are keeping a close eye on those who are venturing out despite being placed in home quarantine by the local administration. A total of 6,26,353 people have been quarantined across Maharashtra and 793 of them were found violating the quarantine.
Meanwhile, one more policeman from Mumbai has died of Covid-19, taking the death toll among Maharashtra Police personnel to 49. The death toll among police personnel in Mumbai has risen to 33.
The policeman who died was identified as constable Pradip Quashid, 53. He was attached to the protection and security branch. Quashid was a resident of Gurgaon and had tested positive for Covid-19 on June 17.
He was initially treated at J J Hospital, and was recently shifted to St George’s Hospital. He was put on ventilator after developing serious breathing problems but succumbed to the disease on Sunday night. Quashid was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Deputy commissioner of police (protection) Prashant Kadam confirmed the death.
So far, 4,048 police personnel in the state have been infected with the virus, mainly while on duty in high-risk containment zones. Most of these personnel are from Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur and Malegaon and SRPF.
To de-stress policemen, SRPF personnel were deployed in urban areas where the maximum number of Covid-19 cases were reported. They were moved to these places to assist local police in enforcing the lockdown.
However, many SRPF personnel also got infected. On Sunday, SRPF reported its first casualty - a company commander who died in Mumbai. So far, a total of 741 SRPF personnel have tested positive for Covid-19, and 648 of them have been discharged from hospital after recovering.
Vinakay Deshmukh said many of the infected police personnel have recovered and only around 1,000 are active now. Most of these policemen are from Mumbai Police.
Deshmukh said the police department has successfully cut the spread of Covid-19 among police personnel through multiple preventive and precautionary measures. Police personnel are now aware and more concerned about their personal safety.
