CAPFs seek live location from troops on leave

The paramilitary forces have directed that ‘live location’ of all officers and jawans allowed to work from home or on leave should be obtained daily to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after two positive cases were reported among them, official said on Monday.

Border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has taken a lead and directed all team heads a few days back to undertake this exercise daily and submit a compliance report twice to the headquarters in Delhi at 10 am and 4 pm.

In a directive accessed by PTI, the force has ordered that a senior officer designated for the task should every morning give a call to all personnel allowed to ‘work from home’ or on leave and subsequently ask them to send their ‘live location’ over the latest WhatApp group especially created for this purpose.

“This is aimed to check that none of the personnel misuse their leaves and stay at homes. This is important as it will not

only help in strict enforcement of the ongoing lockdown declared by the government but also save the vital manpower of these fighting forces from contracting coronavirus,” a top Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) commander told PTI. All supervisory officers have been asked to check the WhatsApp live location provided by their subordinates with the house addresses furnished by them in official records, he said.

He said while no such case of violation has been detected till now, but the intelligence and vigilance arms of these about 10 lakh personnel strong forces have reported that misuse of official ID card, uniform or governmentissued vehicle by force personnel to visit their homes or family members during the leave period can take place, and hence checks need to be deployed.