Chennai: “Do you know that many of us sleep outside our houses or in the terrace to avoid coming in contact with family?” asks Sub-Inspector Mahesh, posted at Perambalur.
This is the extent of social distancing that police personnel undertake to safeguard their families from Coronavirus pandemic.
The fear is palpable among the police force after some of them were tested positive for the infection, the latest being a woman Inspector, aged 44, of Vaniyambadi Taluk Police Station.
She is currently undergoing treatment at Government Vellore Medical College, while the police station was cordoned off and disinfected.
On 19 April, a 52-year-old Sub-Inspector, attached to Esplanade police station in Chennai, was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
A resident of police quarters in Alandur, he was asymptomatic which has shaken many policemen in the city.
A Sub-Inspector with Vepery station said, “We were taken aback on hearing the Esplanade case. I wash my hands even if I touch a barricade. My neighbour who is a doctor keeps giving me tips of staying clean, healthy and how to wash my clothes.”
In another Covid-19 case, a Writer, aged 45, from V-Kalathur police station in Perambalur who was involved in patrolling was tested positive for the virus.
Mahesh who works in the neighbouring station said his colleagues are now scared to venture into V-Kalathur station.
“Two days ago, they reopened the station after disinfecting the premises, but the policemen are putting chairs and tables outside the station and working. We are just waiting for normalcy to return,” Mahesh said.
“There is a lot of pressure to implement Section 144 and seize more vehicles each day. And then we are asked to return the vehicles in a few days’ time, we have no rest. I feel people are careless. They are walking without masks or even a handkerchief,” he says.
Mahesh says he was putting his family behind and standing in the frontline. “My ten-year-old son has fever for the past two days and I have not been able to meet him. My wife took him to the hospital as it was riskful for me to take him. I have been on night duty for the past four days,” he says.
City Police Commissioner, A K Viswanthan had asked policemen above 55 to not come for duty and that those on duty should eat home cooked food.
A Sub-Inspector says it’s not practical. “We rarely go home or interact with our families. We have heavy vehicle check duty. Sixty cases are being registered at a single station.”
Most policemen say that the public see them as enemy and do not co-operate, “People see us as enemies and ask why we are troubling them. They are being very laid back about the lockdown,” Raja Ram, a Sub-Inspector of K K Nagar police station, said.
Inspector of police, Teynampet, Vijayakumar who is posted at the Coronavirus control room at DMS said, “We are scared, we have families too. It is a huge risk carrying out vehicle checks and being in public places throughout day and night. It is also a risk for our family. We do not know who has the virus. Still, we do it as it is our job. Inspectors have 12-13 hours duty. We are trying hard to curtail unnecessary public movement.”
Some of them opined that sanitisers were in shortage and they needed better pairs of gloves, possibly, N-95 masks for patrolling and vehicle check duties.