Corona warriors in khaki to be honoured with medal

In order to appreciate and honour the exemplary efforts of the men and women in khaki, who are among the frontline workers dealing with the pandemic, the state government

In order to appreciate and honour the exemplary efforts of the men and women in khaki, who are among the frontline workers dealing with the pandemic, the state government has decided to honour the Corona warriors from the police force with emergency service medals.

“The home minister recently approved the idea and directed the home department to proceed further. Following this, the home department in a letter dated May 22 asked the director-general of police (DGP) office to submit a detailed proposal for the same,” a police officer said.

Kulwant K Sarangal, additional DG (establishment) confirmed the development and said, “The project is at very premature stage. I will discuss it with my superiors and prepare a detailed proposal.”

Police personnel from constable to police inspector rank would be eligible for this medal, the source added.

In the last two months, many police personnel went beyond the duty line to help the people in distress. This included helping migrants stranded on roads and in slums. Some men in khaki even went to an extent of performing last rituals of those deceased people who had no one in the city to look after them and showed a great side of humanity, an ACP-rank officer said.

In Maharashtra, 1,671 personnel tested positive for Covid-19. This include over 900 personnel from Mumbai alone. Total 18 from the force have died so far in the state.

Presently, the family of police personnel losing life due to Covid-19 gets a ₹50 lakh compensation from the government and ₹10 lakh from the police martyrs’ funds. In Mumbai deceased policemen gets an additional ₹10 lakh from the police welfare funds.

Besides this, personnel who have a bank account with Axis Bank get premium-free term insurance of ₹5 lakh. One family member of the deceased personnel also gets a job in the department.

In Mumbai, over 500 policemen who got infected by the Coronavirus disease while performing duty have been given ₹10,000 each as a token of appreciation.

Recovered cops to help positive ones on call

The Mumbai Police have started a new practice to help their personnel to recover from Covid-19 by asking those cops who have recovered from the disease to call the ones being treated and share their experiences and routine. This is helping the cops at Covid-care centres to better deal with fear and anxiety which comes with the disease.

Vinoy Kumar Choubey, joint commissioner of police, law and order, said, “This practice is really helpful as cops don’t feel they are alone at Covid-care centres and it also helps them in improving their health.”

234 booked, 181 arrested for lockdown violations on Friday

The Mumbai Police lodged 51 FIRs against 234 people and arrested 181 of them for lockdown violations on Friday. In this, a majority of 20 cases are against people gathering in one place, 18 for using vehicles violating lockdown rules, nine for not wearing masks and remaining against shops for operating despite being non-essential services. A majority of 20 FIRs are from the central region, 11 from west suburbs, 10 from eastern suburbs, nine from south Mumbai and one from north Mumbai.

23 personnel from JJ Marg back on duty after recovering

About 23 of the 51 police personnel from JJ Marg police station who had tested positive for Covid-19 have reported back on duty this week after recovering from the disease. An assistant police inspector, a police sub-inspector and police constable joined on Saturday. “They were given a warm welcome by their colleagues at work who gave them a round of applause and a salute,” said Sangramsinh Nishandar, DCP, zone 1.

126 Covid warriors attacked in state

Since the lockdown started as per Maharashtra Police a total of 85 policemen, one home guard and 40 health professionals have been attacked and injured by people while discharging their duties.

(Inputs from Suraj Ojha, Jayprakash S Naidu and Faisal Tandel)