Nuapada cops’ humanitarian face earns applause

In general, the image of police is negative in India and this public perception usually is amplified during a situation of emergency when cops are given the responsibility of enforcing a lot of other activities unusual to their regular work of dealing with law and order situation. The humanitarian engagement of police, especially after the imposition of lockdown to fight coronavirus, seems to have brought a change in the public perception in many ways. Some of such humanitarian engagements are worth mentioning.

Public appreciation of Rasmita Nayak, working as a Constable at the Nuapada police station, and her husband Shesadev Bishi, a Constable in Reserve Police, knew no bounds when the couple worked day and night for the safety of people of Nuapada leaving behind their kid alone at home.

"Leaving our children alone at home is an emotional thing that we have to overcome by putting our responsibility for serving the society on priority," said Rasmita.

"This couple is an inspiration to many. My compliments to them," stated Nuapada SP Vinit Agrawal in his twitter posting.

There are many others in the uniform like Rasmita and Sesadev who have set examples during lockdown and are continuing to deliver services in this extraordinary situation. Several police personnel in the district have donated blood in blood donation camps organised by the Ama Police Samiti and different police stations in collaboration with local people and institutions to meet the requirements of blood during the lockdown. This noble initiative for a greater cause has inspired the general public for volunteering blood donation that resulted in collection of 280 units of blood in the district in two months of the lockdown.

"Per-month requirement of blood for the district is 400 units. The blood collected due to the efforts of Nuapada police is no doubt significant," said an official of the district Blood Bank. District Collector Madhusmita Sahu also donated blood during this period.

There are many such humanitarian engagements of the Nuapada police, which have boosted their image. Regular patrolling to visit Temporary Medical Camps (TMCs) to check on the wellbeing of migrants and to extend a sense of security to all the inhabitants, constant presence in the border check-post at Khariar Road to welcome the returning migrants, expressing solidarity with the migrants through interaction and counselling, small gestures like waving of hands to migrant while they are leaving the BCP by buses to their respective TMCs and repeatedly appealing to the migrants to complete the quarantine period following all norms and guidelines are a few such examples.

Some of the police personnel like Khariar PS IIC Kailash Sethi and Sinapali PS IIC Jyotiranjan Gouda have also used their singing talents as a medium to develop awareness about Covid-19 among people.

Leadership provided by SP Vinit Agrawal in guiding his personnel to perform better during the lockdown seems to have provided right inspiration. The SP has regularly posted encouraging messages for his staffs through social media groups like Facebook and Twitter appealing to them to work relentlessly to ensure safety of all.

All these emergency engagements have, however, not deterred the Nuapada police to deviate from their regular activities like busting drug trafficking, anti-Maoist operations and apprehending criminals, etc. As an example, 15 drug trafficking cases under the Nuapada PS have been lodged during the lockdown period and 71 persons have been arrested and 54 vehicles have been seized.