Lucknow: Around 1,900 personnel of the Uttar Pradesh Police have tested Covid-19 positive in the past two weeks, with authorities claiming that the majority of them were on duty during the first two phases of the panchayat elections currently underway in the state.
The panchayat elections kicked off on 15 April, while the second phase was held on 19 April. The third phase is scheduled for 26 April while voting will conclude on 29 April. Results will be announced on 2 May.
According to a source in the UP Police, 1,919 personnel have tested positive for coronavirus in the second wave, of whom, 65 per cent were on duty in the first two phases of the panchayat polls.
“We tested mostly those who were on duty during the panchayat elections and developed symptoms,” the source said. “Many have tested positive and there are quite a few who have tested negative but are in home quarantine as they are showing Covid symptoms.”
According to data with the UP Police, this takes the total personnel who tested Covid-19 positive, in the past year, to 14,644. Of these, 12,631 have recovered, and 94 have died. The 1,919 are the active patients.
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‘Covid protocol violations by voters led to spurt’
Senior UP police officials told ThePrint that voters not adhering to Covid-19 protocols during the elections led to the spurt.
“These panchayat elections are the major reason behind the rise in Covid cases among policemen and villagers as well. People are not following social distancing norms in villages and policemen have to deal with these situations,” a senior police official told ThePrint.
“Police personnel have been infected while performing their duties because very rarely do people in the villages follow Covid-19 guidelines. We cannot cancel the election duty of those who are fit. But several police personnel developed symptoms after these elections.”
A second police official said that a majority of those affected are constables and sub-inspectors. “Although there are no big rallies, people are not following Covid guidelines,” the official said. “Of our positive cases, the most affected have been sub-inspectors and constables who do a lot of field work.”
“The highest number of these cases are in Lucknow district where 140 policemen have tested positive,” the official added. “We have also lost 94 police personnel to Covid in the last year. This virus is dangerous; we have to protect our security forces.”
UP ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar confirmed to ThePrint that 1,919 police personnel have tested positive in this second wave.
“We have isolated the 1,919 police personnel for proper treatment. If anyone tests positive for this virus, we grant them leave from duty. That’s what we can do right now,” he said. “As far as election duty is concerned, we have to abide by the rules. We are not pressurising anybody, especially those not well, to come for duty but we have to take more precautions.”
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Top officials in home isolation
The second wave has hit the force’s upper echelons with several top officials in home isolation.
A source in the UP DGP office told ThePrint that 13 senior officials, including DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi and ADG (traffic) Jyoti Narayan, have tested positive and are in home isolation.
According to a third police official, meetings are now being held online as many officials are working from home. “It’s a worrisome situation for the police department as we are not able to work in a systematic way as we used to because of this virus,” the official said.
The official added that some who tested positive had taken both doses of the vaccine.
The UP Police has not revealed any data of the number of personnel it has vaccinated. ThePrint contacted UP Police PRO Abhay Nath Tripathi regarding the vaccination data but he said that no such information was available with the force as of now.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
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