The police are reaching out to children in slums, gifting them books and crayons to keep them indoors, with the lockdown in place in the city to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
On Saturday, women police personnel, attached to the Crime against Women and Children (CWC) wing, drove in Amma patrol vehicles, with loads of drawing books and crayons to the slums, and found children loitering about, unmindful of the threat.
While interacting with them, the women personnel handed over the materials to the children and asked them to stay indoors as much as possible.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, CWC, H. Jayalakshmi, told The Hindu , “The welfare of children is important at this time of crisis. We distributed drawing books and crayons to engage them and get them to stay indoors.”
“Our personnel also explained the preventive measures to be taken against COVID-19, and the children will make elders in their houses follow cleanliness and physical distancing norms,” she said.
Ms. Jayalakshmi, along with the other personnel, told children to request their parents to narrate stories and to spend valuable time with them, instead of stepping out.A police inspector, wearing a helmet in the likeness of the virus, conducted an awareness campaign among the children. The campaign was conducted in K.K. Nagar, Triplicane and Royapettah, among other areas, the police said.
