A hall packed with representatives of essential services for a meeting with Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar on Wednesday shows the extent to which social distancing is being ignored at this time of COVID-19 pandemic, with the top brass setting a wrong example.
What is worse is that these very people, who were seen sitting and standing close to each other at the meeting, already came in contact and will continue to do so with hordes of people as part of their essential supply chain.
Though each one of them was made to wash their hands with liquid soaps at the entry and later given hand sanitisers, social distancing was not maintained.
The meeting, which saw the presence of Principal Secretary (IT) Jayesh Ranjan and several senior police officers, lasted for close to three hours. Police personnel present in the meeting and staff at the CP office were worried seeing the large gathering. Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Kumar appeared terrified at the huge turnout and was seen wearing a premium mask.
The conference hall at Mr. Kumar’s office in Basheerbagh has a capacity to seat 180 to 200 people. Several representatives from hospitals, marketing, cable operators, pharmacies and groceries, had to stand because the hall was jam-packed. In his recent tweets, the Commissioner was requesting people to stay at home, avoid social gathering and maintain social distance, to break the COVID-19 chain. However, this meeting came as a surprise.
A message sent to journalists from Commissioner’s office read: CP Hyderabad Anjani Kumar has invited representatives of all essential services for a meeting at 12.30 p.m. at CP office. Joint CP (Special Branch) Tarun Joshi and Additional DCP Muthyam Reddy are the nodal officers in this regard. All concerned are requested to call them and then plan a visit to the CP office for this important meeting. Matter most urgent. Following instructions from the DGP office, similar meetings were reportedly held by police commissioners and superintendents across the State.
