Sanitiser tunnels, military drones to keep police safe

With hundreds of Covid-19 cases being reported in the city daily, Mumbai Police is taking several measures to ensure safety of their forces. From erecting sanitising

With hundreds of Covid-19 cases being reported in the city daily, Mumbai Police is taking several measures to ensure safety of their forces. From erecting sanitising tunnels at police stations looking after hotspots, to putting up tents for personnel to rest, and providing military drones to monitor containment zones, a slew of steps are being taken.

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According to Maharashtra Police, 23 positive cases in forces in the state were reported till Tuesday, of which 12 were reported from Mumbai Police, 10 from Thane, and one from Mumbai Railway police. Another 47 personnel from the state (five officers and 42 constables) have been home quarantined.

Mumbai Police have erected sanitising tunnels at the police stations looking after Covid-19 hotspots. “The tunnel will spray sanitiser on the police personnel passing through it. Any cop who comes back after bandobast duty has to compulsorily pass through it to ensure he does not contract the disease,” said a police officer.

Vinoy Kumar Choubey, joint commissioner of police (law and order) said, “Around 35-40 sanitizing tunnels have been erected at those stations where maximum cases of Covid-19 have been reported,” These tunnels are in addition to the earlier inducted five sanitising police vans.

At many places in the city, tents have been erected for policemen to have brief rest periods during bandobast duty.

Pranaya Ashok, deputy commissioner of police, operations, and spokesperson for Mumbai police confirmed the development and said,” We have distributed them with over 20,000 face shields, face masks, gloves, etc. We are also supplying rations to their families so they can fully concentrate on their duty.”

Apart from the six audio-enabled drones being used to monitor containment zones while maintaining social distancing, as reported by HT earlier, now two more military drones are being used for patrolling. “These drones move faster and can hover for more hours,” said an officer.

(With inputs from Jayprakash Naidu)