Guwahati: Battling virus blues, police face manpower crunch

By: Rokibuz Zaman
GUWAHATI: The Covid-19 pandemic is pushing Guwahati Police to the edge as 190 personnel have been infected with the virus till Friday and over 300 others have been quarantined.
Altogether 83 personnel have been recovered till Friday. At least 10 police personnel have been detected Covid-positive in the last 24 hours. Giving the status of the entire force in the state, Assam Police additional DGP (law and order) GP Singh said in a tweet, “Till Friday 431 personnel have tested positive till date out of whom 165 have recovered. We’ve unfortunately lost one colleague today to Covid-19.”
Though the city police denied that there has been shortage of manpower, the truth is totally different according to many policemen who TOI spoke to.
One senior police officer of East Police district, Guwahati, on condition of anonymity, told TOI that many police stations are already short of manpower and the crisis will only deepen in the days to come.
“If one police personnel tested Covid-19 positive, five to 11 people might have to go quarantine. A police station in the city has about 30 to 40 personnel on an average. It is very difficult to manage,” he said.
He also said as the lockdown is going on in the city, police personnel are engaged in checking points to ensure and enforce the lockdown. “Long hours on the frontlines with bare minimum protective gear make us vulnerable to Covid,” he said, adding one has to do 10 to 12 hours duty instead of eight hours due to insufficient staff.
Another city police official said, “We will face a shortage of manpower. Three tested Covid-19 positive and over 10 are in quarantine.”
Police personnel on the ground say the long hours on the frontlines have been stressful and left them vulnerable to infection. “Long hours, being posted far away from home and uncertain meal times also impact a policemen’s health, adding to the risk,” the police said.
A senior Assam Police official said there is already a shortage of 12,000 personnel in the state.
When asked whether there is a shortage of manpower in Assam Police as many police personnel are in quarantine and tested positive, he said the Assam Police will not let that hamper their fight against the pandemic. “We are here to stand by the people of Assam and manpower shortage is not the issue. We have enough reserve forces,” the official said.
A total of 412 Assam Police personnel have tested positive so far, out of whom 116 have recovered.