Men in uniform at high risk, over 400 TN cops test COVID +ve: Report

Chennai

More and more police personnel and paramilitary forces are taking the hit in the fight against COVID-19 across the country.

Until the end of May this year, that is two months after the lockdown began, 49 personnel belonging to the uniformed services have died and 5,149 of them have been affected by the dreaded virus, according to statistics available with the Indian Police Foundation. Of the 30.46 lakh personnel, belonging to various forces, 10,786 have been quarantined.

In Tamil Nadu, over 400 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 until Tuesday including some top-ranking officers, said sources. Some of the reasons cited for the high number of police personnel contracting the virus include the fact that they are the front line workers while combating the pandemic. “Be it guarding the containment zones, taking the suspected patients to hospitals etc, the men in kakhi are always present along with health workers. Whatever precautions we take, continuous exposure to unhealthy conditions, make police personnel more vulnerable,” a senior police officer said. Maharashtra tops the chart with most number of police personnel testing COVID positive. Of the 2.13 lakh police personnel in that State, so far, 2,509 have contracted the virus and 27 have succumbed to the infection. In Chhattisgarh, of the total 52,641, 541 police personnel have tested positive so far.

In the Border Security Force (BSF), of the total strength of 2.42 lakh, 427 tested positive with two deaths. In Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has a strength of more than 3 lakh, 363 have so far tested positive with two deaths. Of 1.43 lakh personnel in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), 207 were infected and 4 had died, according to data from Indian Police Foundation. Forces like NSG, NDRF, Puducherry police have so far remained unaffected by the global pandemic.

No sanction on PPE for Home Guards, says High Court
The Madras High Court is seized of an issue wherein the GO which speaks about protective kits to police personnel does not state anything for the over 14,000 home guards pressed into service since the lockdown. A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice Anita Sumanth while dealing with a plea moved seeking lack of feeding allowance for Home Guard personnel had put forth a query about the availability of PPE for the Home Guards. But on finding that nothing has been stated in the GO of the police department dated May 13, the bench directed the Government Pleader V Jayaprakash Narayan to file an additional status report in this regard and posted the case to June 17 for further hearing.