CRPF women beef up security at containment zones

NAGPUR: An all-woman company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), part of the battalion tasked to guard highly sensitive Srinagar airport and volatile Imphal, has been deployed to guard some of the 19 containment zones in the city. This is in addition to the SRPF, city police and riot police.
It’s learnt that the company, which has 83 women commandos under assistant commandant Pragya Bajpayee, has been posted at important containment zones like Satranjipura, Gaddigodam, Shanti Nagar and a few others.
There is no clarity on who requisitioned the CRPF. Divisional commissioner Sanjeev Kumar said police commissioner BK Upadhyay “will be in a better person to explain”. Municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe declined to comment on the issue.
Upadhyay said the prime focus of the commandos would be to strengthen the security at the containment zones. “State has sent the force on its own,” he said.
Sources from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation told TOI that Mundhe and his team were not happy with police’s efforts in guarding the containment zones. In recent days, Mominpura and Satranjipura has seen a spike in cases despite the two localities being notified as containment zones on April 4 and April 6, respectively.
“The commissioner had raised the issue of movement of people within containment zones with CP a few times and also held review meetings with police. When it did not help, he requested home minister Anil Deshmukh to explore options like CRPF,” the sources said.
Senior cops TOI spoke to said there was no question of any “lacklustre show by city police”.
While the CRPF women are well-equipped with face shields, masks, half gowns and gloves, city cops are using only cloth masks and gloves.
“We have provided face shields, gloves, sanitizers and also PPE kits at the police stations. Constables should use protective gears,” said Upadhyay.
Mominpura has registered 220 positive cases and Satranjipura 121. Also, a family from Satranjipura and Mominpura were found hiding in Kalamna to escape quarantine. A couple from Shanti Nagar containment zone had whisked away their children to Bhaldarpura. A man from Mominpura even shifted to Panchgaon, Kharbi.