The district police have kept an eye on trucks with goods from neighbouring States to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 infection in the district, said Hassan Superintendent of Police R. Srinivasa Gowda here on Wednesday.
The officer told reporters that the police had booked cases against those who entered the district without valid passes from the places where they started their journey. There were instances of people travelling by trucks that have been allowed to carry essential goods. “We got information on Tuesday night that two people from Mumbai reached Arsikere by a truck. Our staff traced them and quarantined them after registering a case. However, two more people who travelled by the same truck went to K.R. Pet in Mandya district and another five people got down at Bhadravati itself. We have shared information with officers of the respective places,” the officer said.
The police intensified their vigil after a person who travelled by a truck along with two people from Mumbai tested positive for COVID-19 in Nagamangala taluk. The driver of the truck, a native of Hassan taluk, has gone back to Mumbai with a load of vegetables, along with another person. The police have been in touch with them over the phone. “We are constantly following their movement. So far they have not returned to Hassan,” the SP said.
The district administration has been contemplating measures to avoid truck drivers travelling to distant places joining the public. “We are working out some steps so that the drivers from Maharashtra and other places where COVID-19 cases have been reported do not come in contact with the local people,” he said.
Phone-in programme
The SP conducted a phone-in programme at his office to listen to people’s problems over the lockdown. A few people called up to check when the lockdown would end. A cloth merchant appealed to the SP to allow apparel shops to open. Besides that, many called up the officer to know the process to getting travel passes to travel outside the district.