Door delivery of groceries is the last thing one associates with the police. But that is exactly what the city police are doing now under the Amrutham project, as the spread of COVID-19 continues and more areas in the city turn containment zones.
Under the project, the police will deliver essential goods, including groceries and medicines, and services to residents within containment zones. The project is the brainchild of Inspector General and District Police Chief (Kochi City) Vijay Sakhare, who successfully implemented it in Kasaragod district where he had served as special officer for COVID-19 containment. Mr. Sakhare also launched a poster campaign of Amrutham project on Tuesday.
The system was initially introduced in the city when the Thevara division was declared a containment zone after an airline staff was found infected. It was expanded after more containment zones were declared within the city limits from last week onwards.
“We have set up a helpline number (85902-02073) to which people from containment zones may send in their requirements along with their addresses as messages on WhatsApp. The messages are then forwarded to police stations concerned, where we have dedicated teams led by assistant sub inspectors to execute the orders,” said G. Poonguzhali, Deputy Police Commissioner, Kochi City.
As of Tuesday morning, there were containment zones spread over seven police station limits — Kannamaly, Fort Kochi, Thoppumpady, Palarivattom, South, Central, and Thrikkakara. The number of calls has been gradually increasing over the last couple of days as the police are increasingly publicising the service, including on social media.
“We have deployed a home guard to attend the call and have received over 30 calls in the last two days. The most sought after service so far is the delivery of medicines,” said one of the police officers deployed at the COVID-19 control cell, as part of which the service is being operated.
On receiving the order, the police station concerned reconfirms the order with the person concerned. The essentials are then collected from the shop and delivered at the doorstep in keeping with physical distancing norms.
“We either collect the cash on delivery or, if they prefer card payment, we take a person from the shop with the swiping machine along with us. We have so far delivered everything from groceries and vegetables to medicines,” said Jose Kuruvilla, assistant sub inspector in charge of the Amrutham project at Central station.
