44 police personnel died of COVID-19 in state: DGP Praveen Sood

PTI, Sep 4, 2020, 9:17 AM IST

Bengaluru: Fortyfour police personnel have died due to COVID-19 in Karnataka so far and their kin have been given Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia announced by the government for all corona frontline warriors besides other relief, state Director General of Police Praveen Sood said on Thursday, September 3.

He hailed Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for categorizing the police personnel also as the corona warriors along with doctors, nurses, and ASHA health workers as it entitled them for the Rs 30 lakh COVID ex-gratia in the event of their death.

“So far 44 policemen have lost their lives due to COVID- 19. We have not just given Rs 30 lakh each to their families. They will also get insurance, other benefits and job to a dependent on the compassionate ground,” Sood told reporters in Bijapur, in response to a question.

“The ex-gratia of Rs 30 lakh had been given within 48 hours of the demise of the police personnel,” he said.

The DGP said he has directed all his subordinates to liberally sanction earned leave to police personnel having comorbidity or serious illness. “The others will have to work because we cannot sit at home permanently.

The infection is not on the road. It has entered every house. We have to take precautions,” he said. He, however, saw coronavirus as a blessing in disguise as it helped in extensive usage of technology.

“One good thing that has happened due to COVID-19 is that technology is widely used. Video conference is extensively used (in court proceedings). It is happening from Bengaluru to Bijapur.

It should reach the interior villages,” he added. The police have stopped taking the accused to the court and were getting their appearance done through video conference.

He said that in the next four to five years, even evidence might be recorded through video conference. On the drug menace, Sood said the police were initiating action to check it, adding a lot of seizures had been made and the drive would continue in the future also.

“We have to eliminate the drug menace from the state” and people would see the results soon due to the measures taken to curb the entry of drugs coming from neighboring states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh,” he said.