Police to carry extra mask, sanitiser for those they nab
STARTING THURSDAY, ALL INVESTIGATING OFFICERS WERE GIVEN AN EXTRA PAIR OF FACE MASKS AND SANITISER. THE SANITISERS ARE A MUST ALONG WITH THE GUN OR THE CANE
nNEW DELHI : All investigating officers of the Delhi Police must carry extra masks and hand sanitisers and give these to suspects before arresting them . The new rules issued by police commissioner SN Shrivastava also makes it mandatory to sanitise all anti-riot gear such as canes, batons and barricades before they are used for crowd control measures. The traffic have been told to insist on digital payments for traffic violation fines.
Shrivastava said all personnel must follow these rules as the force is now back to focusing on crime prevention and detection duties.
With the lockdown norms eased, markets have opened and traffic resumed in the national capital. A new set of rules and regulations have been set in place for the police personnel across the city to follow until the threat of the Covid-19 ceases to exist.
Until last Monday, there were few relaxations and only citizens working with essential services were allowed on the roads. As a result, Delhi’s crime rate too had dipped. With fewer crimes reported at stations since the lockdown, police were also focusing on feeding the underprivileged, managing containment zones, conducting security checks on roads, and ensuring social distancing among citizens.
Starting Thursday, all investigating officers were given extra pair of face masks and sanitisers. The sanitisers are a must along with the gun or the cane that police carry. Shrivastava wrote in a circular that the two must be given to every arrested person. The police chief also wrote to the 90,000 personnel that if a person is arrested for any bailable offence, the person should be granted bail immediately without prolonging their stay on the station premises.
During a recent meeting of the top brass, it was decided that for crowd control police would use ropes along with barricades. “It is also mandatory for us to sanitise the anti-riot equipment such as lathis, shields and barricades. It is a drill we have to follow before every protest now,” said a police officer, who wish not to be named.
Over the last two months, since the nationwide lockdown, there have been very few protests in the city. There are around 9,000 to 13,000 protests held in Delhi each year.
“Now that we are back to out regular work, we realise that a lot has changed. We have been told to use our own pens. There are separate and designated places at police stations for visitors. All arrested persons in the station lock-up are being kept apart ensuring social distancing. Some of our field staff are directly going home and not coming to the station. This is all part of the new order,” another officer said.
nNEWDELHI: In the last week, Delhi witnessed sealing of nine areas as Covid-19 containment zones even as nine other sealed zones witnessed scaling down of containment efforts, government data showed.
Between May 14 and Thursday, the Capital saw an increase in the number of fresh cases from 7,998 to 11,088, but the numbers pertaining to active Covid-19 cases witnessed a marginal increase from 5,034 to 5,720, suggesting a decent rate of people recovering from the disease, say experts.
Active Covid-19 cases are calculated after deducting the total number of people who have recovered, discharged from hospital and deaths from the cumulative figure of fresh cases recorded. For this one week period, Delhi recorded a recovery rate of around 76 people per 100 fresh cases against the allindia average of 55 people per 100 fresh cases, data extracted from Delhi government dashboard and records of Union ministry of health showed. During the period, the death toll due to the disease increased from 106 to 176, the government records showed.
In the last one week the Delhi government “de-contained” sealed areas in Block 34 of Trilokpuri, Israel Camp in Rangpuri, K2 block in Nihal Vihar, Oberoi Apartment in central Delhi, G1 block in Mansarovar Garden, Lane 14 in Kalyanpuri, three lanes in D-block of Sangam Vihar, Deenpur Village and Shahjahanabad Society in Dwarka. “For scaling down containment efforts, it is mandatory that no case is recorded in a containment zone for at least 28 day,” said Rahul Singh, district magistrate (south-west).
Between May 14 and 21, containment zones were added in F block of Dakshinpuri, the main road of Zamroodpur, three separate pockets in Jahangirpuri, Dhobiwali Gully in Azadpur, Chandrashekhar Azad Colony in Wazirpur Industrial Area, BB block in Shalimar Bagh and C block of Sultanpuri.