Cops keep eye on travellers, those flouting rules

With over two lakh people, mostly migrant labourers, waiting for their turn to return home in trains and buses, the Mumbai Police in western suburbs have resorted

With over two lakh people, mostly migrant labourers, waiting for their turn to return home in trains and buses, the Mumbai Police in western suburbs have resorted to counselling in a bid to keep them calm and ensure they do not leave the city on their own violating lockdown rules.

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Till Wednesday evening, a total of 50,000 stranded people, mostly migrant labourers have been sent back from the city while the police received three lakh applications. “Most of them are labourers,” said Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops) and Mumbai Police spokesperson.

Manoj Kumar Sharma, additional commissioner of police (west region), said, “There have been several instances of migrants leaving the city or gathering at police station asking for travel updates. Hence, I have asked all senior inspectors of the 21 police stations in my region to counsel the migrants and to keep them updated with travel updates so that they do not panic and leave on their own. Our patrolling teams have been asked to use mega phones to make announcements to keep them updated about train travel details in advance so that they are aware when their turn will come.”

So far, 16 trains with 22,400 people stranded in west region (Bandra to Jogeshwari) have commenced while around 44,800 people are on waiting list. On the other hand, over the past 10 days, police officers from Sakinaka, which has a significant number of containment zones, caught more than 300 migrants trying to leave the city by hiding inside vehicles.

Kishor Sawant, senior inspector of Sakinaka police station, said, “In the past two days, we have sent over 5,000 migrants back home from Sakinaka, and around 6,000 people are on the waiting list. We know they have no money or jobs, and hence we are counselling them and ensuring that we send them home safely as soon as possible. I have personally told my staff not to shout, misbehave, or manhandle any migrants.”

“We recently caught a truck with 90 migrants. We counselled them and brought them back to their factory. We provided them food with the help of an NGO, and recently we sent them to their states by train,” Sawant said. Sakinaka police has also constructed a temporary tent at Sangharsh Nagar where migrants come to collect their food.

“On Tuesday night around 5,000 people from Sakinaka, Meghwadi, Powai, and Jogeshwari were sent to their home states in four trains which left from LTT and CSMT stations,” said Ankit Goyal DCP, zone 10.

484 cases of Covid-19 in city police, 68 recovered, 5 dead

The Mumbai Police till Wednesday reported 484 cases of Covid-19, most of the patients are asymptomatic. Of the affected people, 68 have recovered and while five Mumbai Police officials died. Police officers said the last person to die, a 55-year-old police officer with Sewree police station, had contracted the virus and was admitted in a civic hospital at Navi Mumbai where he died on Tuesday night.

A senior inspector of Sahar police station tested positive on Tuesday. He said, “I was not feeling well and I had slight fever. I went for a Covid test, and my result came positive on Tuesday. While I am admitted at SevenHills Hospital, senior inspector from Vile Parle has additional charge.” A total of 24 staff from Sahar police station have tested positive so far.

The state police on Wednesday corrected their daily press notes stating that the number of total police personnel infected by Covid-19 in their force is 925 and not 1,007. So far 124 have recovered, 793 are under treatment and eight have succumbed to the disease.

40 FIRs against 211 people on Tuesday

The Mumbai Police on Tuesday registered 40 FIRs on Tuesday against 211 people and arrested 28 of them. A maximum of 13 FIRs were from west region and 12 from central region, the worst-affected areas in the city. Of the total cases, 15 FIRs were for unnecessary use of vehicles, 12 for not wearing masks, eight for gathering in public and the remaining five were against shops or establishments for operating despite being non-essential service.

20,072 arrested across state for lockdown violations

More than a lakh of people have been booked in 1,05,532 FIRs for lockdown violations and 22,072 people have been arrested in Maharashtra from the day lockdown was imposed till Wednesday morning. About 57,430 vehicles have been seized for unnecessary use and ₹4.05 crore has been collected as fines. The state police have also booked 668 people for violating home quarantine orders. As many as 90,556 people from across the state called the police helpline 100 inquiring about Covid-related issues.

₹8.80-L gutkha carried as ‘essential services’, seized

The Mumbai Police’s crime branch unit 10 in Chandivali intercepted a tempo carrying gutkha and tobacco products worth ₹8.80 lakh and arrested one person on Tuesday evening. The arrested accused, 28-year-old Akash Gupta, had pasted a sticker of essential goods on the truck to mislead the police.

117 Covid warriors injured in attack

About 83 policemen, 33 health professionals and one home guard in Maharashtra have been injured in attacks while discharging duties. The police have registered 214 FIRs for assault on Covid warriors and arrested 764 people.

(Inputs from Jayprakash S Naidu, Manish K Pathak, Faisal Tandel)