Covid status of PAC personnel causes flutter in VVIP area
LUCKNOW: After 43 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) guarding the residences of senior politicians tested positive between Sunday and Tuesday, concern over the coronavirus disease is palpable in the state capital’s VVIP area around Bandariyabagh.
Those who tested positive have been admitted in hospital. As many as 129 other personnel of two companies of PAC’s 47th and 10th battalions, camping together near Bandariyabagh, have been put in quarantine.
More PAC personnel are being tested and contact tracing is on.
Additional director general (ADG), PAC, Binod Kumar Singh said a PAC personnel of a company of the 47th battalion, camping here since June 7, tested positive on June 14. Thereafter, 85 others of the same company were tested and 42 of them were found Covid-19 positive on Tuesday, he said.
He said all 43 PAC personnel were admitted to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, while the remaining 42 personnel of the same battalion were sent into quarantine at a medical college in Bakshi Ka Talab.
“As a precautionary measure, all 87 police personnel of a company of the 10th battalion were also asked to be removed from Bandariyabagh, where they were camping along with the company of the 47th battalion for the past few days. The 10th battalion personnel have been quarantined at a different college in Bakshi Ka Talab. All personnel of the two companies are being tested,” the ADG said.
He said the test reports of many personnel were awaited.
Singh said other companies of different PAC battalions were replaced for the security of VVIPs’ residences after sanitising the barracks thoroughly.
He said it was the first time when such a large number of PAC personnel tested positive together. Earlier, 12 PAC personnel of different companies tested positive across the state.
The company of PAC’s 47th battalion joined duty in Lucknow on June 7. The personnel came from different places, including Agra and Meerut, where they were earlier deployed.
AT LEAST 43 PAC PERSONNEL GUARDING THE RESIDENCES OF SENIOR POLITICIANS HAVE TESTED COVID POSITIVE SO FAR