Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Vivek Johri has asked senior officials to cease approval of leave applications requiring personnel to step outside the headquarters in view of spiralling cases within the service.
In a letter to senior police officials, Mr. Johri said the personnel were negligent in following the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) he had forwarded to units on June 12. As a result of which, he said, until August 1, there had been 255 active cases in the service and around four times that number in quarantine.
“Police officials are not strictly following the SOP and taking enough precautions during duty,” he wrote. During leave, the personnel were not taking precautions while travelling and at their place of stay. In addition, after returning to their place of duty from leave they were not quarantining themselves as required. “COVID-19 infection is also spreading because of this,” he wrote.
He said immediate cessation had come into force to approvals of leave applications requiring personnel to leave headquarters. “Going on approved leaves for personnel of all ranks only after further orders will be allowed on approval from the Zonal Inspector General of Police. It must be ensured that the leaves are approved only in case of family and health-related emergencies,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that till now 588 personnel had been infected. “If they return to families, they could be infected too. We can’t put their families at risk and their [personnel’s] health is our priority. There is no permanent stop on leave approvals though,” he said.
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