The lockdown to curb the spread of novel coronavirus has brought forth the compassionate side of the state police.

Till Wednesday, the cops had distributed food among 8,99,465 people (as on April 15) ever since the community kitchen was started across 400 police stations in 24 districts of Jharkhand on March 28.

Which means the police have fed around 47,000 people every day on an average for the last 19 days.

The Dhanbad police have taken the lead in terms of distribution of food by reaching out to 1.8 lakh (1,80,999) people with two (afternoon and evening) meals a day.

Following closely are the East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) police who have distributed food among 1.3 lakh (1,30,030) people, while Ranchi police are in third position having fed 1.2 lakh (1,20,224) needy people.

“Acting on the directive of chief minister Hemant Soren and on the guidance of our director-general of police (M.V. Rao) we have so far started distribution of food in over 387 police stations across the state,” said state additional director-general of police (operations) M.L. Meena, who is also the state police spokesperson.

“The ration is being supplied by respective district supply departments, while the police station has to arrange for cooking and distribution of the food. The police are happy to have contributed in alleviating the problems of the poor and stranded workers who are the worst affected in the lockdown,” Meena added.

The Telegraph

The feat earned praise from the state’s top cop.

“It shows our commitment to go the extra mile in the service of people. Community kitchens run by us with support of the government has provided shelter to lakhs of needy people during the lockdown. We move forward to win the hearts of people to win the war against Covid-19,” said DGP Rao.

In his tweet on Wednesday, Rao cautioned his forces about the new challenges in the wake of the extension of the lockdown till May 3.

“My dear colleagues we have to deal with the new challenges. More people will go to the groceries. People stranded may get agitated because of the lockdown-2. Please act professionally and with empathy. We draw inspiration from the well-being of the society.

Together we will win,” Rao had tweeted.

East Singhbhum senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anoop Birtharay said all 35 police stations in the district have been distributing meals twice a day with food supplied by the district supply department and Rs 10,000 given to each police station.

“The rice and dal is supplied by the district supply department, while we use our own resources from the Rs 10,000 given to us by the administration for cooking and miscellaneous expenses,” the SSP said.

“We have asked the district administration to increase the amount with the extension of the lockdown.”