Director General of Police J&K Shri Dilbag Singh has said that people have to understand the magnitude of the situation we are in and cooperate with dealing agencies to fight the deadly COVID-19. General public must understand the purpose of lock down.

The DGP said that the impact of COVID-19 is not seen only in Jammu and Kashmir but across the world. He said that the day when the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi appealed for the Janta Curfew, Jammu and Kashmir Police along with civil administration, Health department and all other essential organisations started taking measures to contain the spread of this deadly disease.He said besides the lockdown, Jammu and Kashmir police immediately launched awareness drive to aware people about the dangers of this virus as people largely were not aware about the dangers of it and added that people have to co-operate in breaking the chain of this deadly virus.

He said that in the initial stage of the lockdown there weresome  people who were not aware about thevirus but as the time is passing people get educated and are  cooperative. He said that at times Police hasto be harsh but that is for betterment of the community.

The DGP said that thousands of J&K Police personnelalong with other security forces are on ground to make sure that the ordersissued from time to time by the Governments are being adhered to by the generalpeople.  He said to ensure the lockdown329 FIRs were lodged against the violators and 600 vehicles/ shops were seizedfor non compliance of the orders by the authorities and added that some persons arrested by the Police  were lateron released after detailed briefing about the threat posed by the virus.He said that to create awareness about the Coronavirus on  large scale short audio clips in Urdu,Kashmiri and Dogri languages were posted on social media sites, loud speakers were used at Police station and Police post levels to make the people aware even in the remote areas of the villages about the preventive measures and tomake them understand that staying at home is the best remedy to tackle this disease. He said that the messages of social, political and religious leaders were also used to promote the preventive measures and social distancing.

The DGP said that Police along with Civil administration hasstarted to find out all those persons who are hiding their travel history at alarge scale and added that till now 1200 such persons were identified from different places who either have international travel history or have come incontact with such persons.

He said that about 300 Police personnel batch who were outside the Union Territory for training purpose have been put underquarantine. He said no one is being spared as this is the only preventive measure in our hands to check each and every one. He said that people mustunderstand that  one infected person canbe  harmful for the whole community.

Referring to the death of a man caused by COVID-19 inSrinagar, the DGP said that people have to understand the magnitude of theproblem and follow the protocol strictly.

He said that help lines at different levels have been established by the police department and we are encouraging people to comeforward in helping us to identify those doubtful persons who have any type of suspicious travel history. He said that about 200 to 400 anonymous calls werereceived by these help lines which helped Police and civil administrations.

Shri Singh said that people don't have to panic as ourthousands of officers and Jawans are on ground and every possible assistanceand help will be provided as and when required. He said besides fighting thedeadly virus all the necessary security arrangements are also in place acrossJammu and Kashmir.Jammu and Kashmir Police today lodged 30 number of  FIRs across the Union Territory. In Kashmirzone 26 FIRs were registered against the violators that includes four each inSrinagar, Shopian and Handwara, three each in Pulwama and Baramulla, two eachin Awantipora and Bandipora, one each in Ganderbal, Kupwara, Sopore and Kulgam.Similarly in Jammu zone four FIRs one each in Samba, Udhampur, Reasi and Poonchhave been registered against the violators.

Meanwhile to encourage voluntary disclosure of people withtravel history Police in Nagrota, Jammu ropes in Panchayat Raj Institutions& volunteers to have door to door appeal to trace out such people. So far32 such people have been traced.