Mumbai Police allows staff to work from home as COVID-19 cases surge

MUMBAI: In view of rising coronavirus cases, the Mumbai Police has now allowed its personnel to work from home. According to an order issued by the Additional Director General, Maharashtra Police, 100 per cent attendance will be mandatory for Class A and B officers.

Besides this, the attendance of employees in the C and D categories working at the police headquarters have been reduced to 50 per cent. Out of those, 25 per cent of C and D category employees will be called between the 9 am to 4 pm shift, while the remaining 25 per cent will be called in 11 am to 5 pm shift.

The Station House Officers at the police stations have been authorised to take a call on the workforce required for daily duties. The remaining employees will work from home and be available on the phone so that they can be called if needed.

It may be recalled that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Tuesday said that more people should work from home as the number of coronavirus cases is rising significantly across the state.

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 6,218 new COVID-19 cases and 51 deaths. The state Health Department said the total count of cases reported in the state has gone up to 21,12,312, including 53,409 active cases. 

The state saw 5,869 recoveries in the last 24 hours and the total number of recoveries has gone up to 20,05,851. The death toll stands at 51,857. Maharashtra continues to be one of the worst affected states in the country. 

The number of new cases in the state has seen a surge over the last few weeks. State authorities have also imposed a night curfew in Aurangabad from 11 pm to 6 am till March 8 exempting essential services. 

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday collected a total fine of Rs 28 lakh from 14,000 people in the city who were caught without face masks in public spaces.