A 28-year-old techie in Hyderabad sent this WhatsApp message to a friend in Calcutta on Thursday morning while discussing the plight of elderly people during the nationwide lockdown to battle the coronavirus.
Elderly people, many of whom stay alone, are among the sections worst affected by the 21-day lockdown that began on Wednesday. The men in uniform, following instructions from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, have come forward across Bengal to stand by the homebound people, especially the elderly.
Sujit Chatterjee, an 82-year-old Santiniketan resident who lives with his 80-year-old wife and 91-year-old elder brother, was overcome by emotion while talking about how a police team visited him on Tuesday and gave him masks and hand sanitisers for the entire family. The cops told him that they were a call away in case the family needed help, including buying groceries.
“All three of us are old and infirm…. My sons don’t live in Bengal. My eyes welled up when the policemen told me that they were like my sons and would be available round the clock for any assistance,” said Chatterjee, adding that the family was now feeling secure.
“Since then, we are getting calls from the police everyday, asking if we need anything from the market. They are taking the list over phone and bringing me the items,” he said.
Not only in Santiniketan, such tales of the police extending a helping hand to ameliorate the concerns of the people under lockdown, besides distributing masks and sanitisers, have been reported from other parts of Bengal as well.
At Chinsurah in Hooghly on Wednesday, the police came to the aid of an elderly resident who had been facing trouble getting conveyance for an urgent visit to the doctor. A Toto driver out to make a killing had demanded 10 times the usual fare, prompting the man to call the district police’s coronavirus-specific helpline number.
“The driver was demanding Rs 100 although the fare is Rs 10. As soon as I called the helpline, a policeman came rushing and convinced the driver to charge a much more reasonable rate for the to-and-fro journey,” said Amit Karmakar, a trader.
If the police’s human side is being hailed, their strict enforcement of the lockdown by wielding the baton on wilful violators is also being appreciated.
Over the past 48 hours, policemen have left no stone unturned to enforce the lockdown and create awareness on social distancing. In some cases, they have penalised violators.
The police are also helping out health workers by keeping a vigil on people under home quarantine.
“We have prepared registers for each police station with names and details of the people in home quarantine. Our people are visiting those homes twice a day and giving them moral support, telling them to be at home for their own safety and that of the society,” said Shyam Singh, the Birbhum police chief.
Senior health officials who are coordinating with the police said the mandate for the men in uniform was difficult in view of the ground realities.
“We are habituated to see the police handling crimes but now their role has broadened as they are engaged in surveillance, social assistance and even assisting patients in hospital. We are doing our job as doctors, but without the help of the police, we could not have offered our services,” said Amitabha Saha, the deputy superintendent of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.
A senior policeman said the force had never faced such a difficult assignment where they were having to strike a delicate balance by being nice to people so that they don’t face difficulties and simultaneously enforcing the lockdown.
