Mumbai Police say lack of doctors poses a problem in clearing migrants for travel
The Mumbai Police, which has been entrusted with the work of drawing a list of migrant workers, tourists, students, pilgrims and others stranded in their jurisdiction, said that lack of doctors and funding are two major issues they are facing with the compilation work.
Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops) and Mumbai Police spokesperson, said, “We have received about 10,000 applications so far and expect about 1.5 lakh people to apply in total.”
“We have registered medical practitioners and the zonal DCPs working to verify the medical documents provided,” Ashok said, adding that there is also a need to verify if the applicant is a migrant worker or a city resident looking to spend the lockdown in their hometown. “This is a problem and hence, we have asked migrant labourers to apply in groups and one group leader will collect the forms and submit them as well. This will also help in social distancing,” he said.
The Mumbai Police also wrote a letter to the municipal commissioner, seeking help to solve the shortage of doctors to screen the applicants and verify medical documents.
A senior IPS officer confirmed the development to HT, adding, “Local registered medical practitioners are not supporting us. They refuse to examine the migrants or issue medical clearance certificates.
“We have written to municipal commissioner Praveen Paredeshi in this regard and raised our concerns.”
“Our personnel have communicated with many doctors, requesting them for help through various WhatsApp groups. We also offered our personal protection equipment (PPE) to them and assured that we would take care of all the safety requirements,” the officer said.
“The police are taking all possible measures to overcome the hurdles and ensure the effective and smooth execution of the task of sending back stranded migrants to their hometowns,” said Vinoy Kumar Choubey, additional director general (law and order), Mumbai.
Shashikant Bhandare, senior inspector at Nirmal Nagar police station, said, “We have requested four doctors to open their clinics so that migrants can get medical certificates.” Someshwar Kamthe senior inspector Amboli police station added that officers have also been deployed at each clinic to maintain social distancing norms.
Migrant labourers voice their issues
Sajan Ali, 36, a migrant labourer from Bihar, stranded in Kandivli (East), who worked as a site supervisor said, “I am stuck with 60 migrants from Bihar and West Bengal at the construction site. We somehow managed to get the medical certificate but now we are asked to pay for our travel. On a bus having a capacity of 50 people, only 25 will be allowed. The estimated cost is ₹ 1.50 lakh and since we did not get paid for the past 50 days, it’s not possible to arrange this amount.”
Ajay Ram, 35, a cook who resides with five other workers in Mulund (East), has been trying to figure out a way to reach his home in Jharkhand. “We got forms from the police station, filled them, but they did not accept them back and told us to submit them online,” said Ram. “The doctor charged each of us ₹200 for a medical certificate,” he said.
Complaints of people crowding clinics
Several people complained to the police about crowding at clinics on Sunday. “The local police have been instructed to patrol clinics in their area to maintain social distancing,” said DCP Ashok. Mahendra Nerlekar senior inspector, Jogeshwar police station added that announcements are being made outside clinics instructing people to maintain safety measures.
25 labourers left for Rajasthan in bus
Sangram Nishandar, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, said, “On Sunday we sent a bus to Rajasthan with 25 people after subjecting them to medical tests. If a group is arranging a bus to travel they will be granted permission after following due procedure.”
361 police across state test positive
Till Sunday morning, a total of 361 police personnel tested positive for Covid-19, of which 49 have recovered while 309 are still being treated. The home department arranged a special bus for mass Covid-19 screening. On Sunday it was used to screen 60 to 70 personnel at Worli police station. The department plans to use it at other police stations as well.
FIRs further dip to just 54 cases on Saturday
As the number of cases of Covid-19 is increasing, the number of first information reports (FIRs) for lockdown violations in the city has witnessed a steep fall with only 54 cases registered on Saturday. A maximum of 32 are for gathering in one place and 12 are for not wearing masks. The rest are for illegal use of vehicles and operating non-essential shops. In all 156 were booked and 33 arrested.
Maximum forms distributed in Dharavi
Veeresh Prabhu, additional commissioner of police (central region), said, “Around 10,000 travel forms were distributed in the central region, including the dense slums of Dharavi and Shahunagar where migrants are stranded in huge numbers.” Officers in charge at Shahu Nagar, Dharavi, Wadala TT, and Worli police stations took extra efforts and requested private doctors to operate their clinics. “We are also taking the help of NGOs to rope in more doctors,” said Prabhu.
(Inputs from Suraj Ojha, Faisal Tandel, Pratik Salunke and Jayprakash S Naidu)