Police use volunteers, WhatsApp groups in South Kashmir to 'contain' Covid-19

By Basharat Rashid*

As the COVID-19 cases have been growing very fast in Kashmir valley for last one month, with hundreds of positive cases reported so far, Awantipora police district in South Kashmir witness no positive case yet.
The police along with administration here have created whatsapp groups and added large number of volunteers from around all the villages of the district, just to contain the spread of coronavirus in the area.
As per the official sources, the groups have been created by SDPOs and SHOs under the supervision of SSP, where volunteers from teshils and villages have been added to spread awareness among the people and to control their movement.
Sources said that not a single case has been reported yet in any of the four tehsils at Awantipora police district, as volunteers and members of some NGOs have been working 24x7 in coordination with police & administration and are performing their duties at entry & exit points to halt public movement.
Sub-district police officer (SDPO) Dr Aijaz Malik, has said that volunteers have been working very hard to contain the spread of COVID-19 here and have been working with us via whatsapp 24x7.
"Volunteers, whom I call 'Covi fighters' have shown the way. I thank them from bottom of my heart. They have done a good job till now. To win the battle, we expect more support from them," Malik said.
Meanwhile, Tahir Saleem Khan, SSP Awantipora, has said that every effort is being taken by the police in PD Awantipora to contain COVID-19 spread here.
He said that "by the grace of almightly Allah, no positive case has been reported yet in Awantipora region and a particular team has been established if God forbid any case turns positive here".
Khan further said that police has created some WhatsApp groups to tackle the ongoing situation, with the help of volunteers and NGOs, adding volunteers are working almost in every village, who have been giving information related to the travel history of people, gatherings, shortage of essentials in their respective areas, which are being solved accordingly.
"We have been receiving feedbacks from our volunteer groups related to the many grievances/issues & all the issues are being redressed at the earliest by the concerned SDPOs and SHOs," he said.
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*Journalist based in Kashmir

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