Govt decision to entrust Police with contact tracing flayed

In an open letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala said it was surprising that the government handed over major responsibilitiessuch as identification of containment zones, monitoring of those in quarantine and contact tracing, from the health department to police. "There is no doubt that this will lead to law and order issues,police atrocities and human rights violations", he said, adding that in short the state would witness "police raj".

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 4 (PTI): The Opposition Congress led UDF on Tuesday slammed the Kerala government's decision to entrust major responsibilities of Covid containment from the health department to police, saying this would create "police raj" in the state. In an open letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala said it was surprising that the government handed over major responsibilitiessuch as identification of containment zones, monitoring of those in quarantine and contact tracing, from the health department to police.

"There is no doubt that this will lead to law and order issues,police atrocities and human rights violations", he said, adding that in short the state would witness "police raj". With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in Kerala, the LDF government had on Monday decided to bring in stringent measures to contain the spread and had entrusted police with the task of contact tracing and enforcing quarantine protocols.

"This is a health emergency and not a law and order issue. The Health department should lead Covid prevention activities", the Congress leader said and alleged that the Chief Minister has "insulted" health officials with the decision.

Pointing out that the deployment of commandos in nearby Poonthura had backfired, Chennithala noted that the COVID-19 pandemic should be handled with empathy and compassion. BJP leader K Gopalakrishnan also attacked the government, saying lathis are not a solution to overcome the covid crisis. Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) flayed the decision, saying the government's decision cannot be justified.

This is a job of health workers, the IMA said in a statement here. Kochi City Police commissioner Vijay Sakhrae, who has been appointedthe nodal officer, said police would only assist the health workers.

"This is a joint fight against the virus," he told reporters in Kochi..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)