Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], April 16 (ANI): As many as 8,620 Punjab Police personnel, along with 6,483 volunteers, are maintaining a round-the-clock vigil at the mandis and in villages to ensure smooth procurement operations amid the COVID-19 crisis, said an official statement on Thursday.
"The personnel are maintaining vigil with stringent guidelines for their own protection and for the strict enforcement of health and sanitation protocols as well as social distancing measures at all the Procurement centres," Information and Public Relations Department of Punjab said in a statement.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said as part of the two-pronged strategy adopted by the Punjab Police, the frontline police personnel on duty at the mandis have been equipped to protect the farmers and others coming to these centres, while also ensuring their own protection.
All police personnel have been provided with face masks, gloves, hand sanitizers etc and also briefed about their proper usage.
"The police personnel deployed in various mandis have been asked to ensure checking at all entry/exit points, traffic flow and de-congestion of roads leading up to the Mandi (s)/sub-yards/purchase centres, besides ensuring law and order and proper flow of people and vehicular movement," the statement added.
Gupta further disclosed that the policemen have also been directed to ensure that combine harvesters do not operate at night after 7 pm, and to allow only one trolley with one person having a valid coupon at the entry point of the village to go to the mandi.
Elaborating on the role of volunteers during harvesting/procurement, Gupta said that they had been given the task of ensuring social distancing in Mandis, so as to make people, especially the farmers, aware about its significance.
The volunteers have been drawn from various sources, such as from various villages (5600), GoG (1717), NCC (135), former policemen (102), Forest Guards (35), Youth and Sports Clubs (142). The DGP said they were being deployed only in large mandis, as per the present plan. (ANI)