SOP Station House Management by Kerala Police

132 16. COMMUNITY POLICING & BEST PRACTICES
ers.
a) 24x7 control rooms
were opened in every district
and helpline numbers were
given to them to register the
grievances of guest workers.
b) The living conditions
of the labour camps were improved
by taking the help of
District Administration.
c) Facilitated food, shelter
and medical care to the guest
workers all over the State.
Medical screening, health
check-ups were conducted
with the help of Labour Department
and Health Department.
d) The respective District
Administrations in Kerala
along with the Labour department
authorities and Police
had visited their dwelling
places on a day-to-đay basis to
look after their welfare and to
convince them to stay in Kerala
peacefully.
e) Camp Management
Committees were formed to
address their grievances and
arrangements for food were
made and essential items
were arranged with the help
of CSR/LSGD, philanthropic
organizations etc.
f) Group counseling was
arranged at Labour Camps for
making them aware about the
epidemic and the possibility
of community spread. Large
numbers of counselors were
arranged from Tata Institute
of Social Science (TISS) for
providing psychological assistance
to the workers. Counseling
services were provided
and a dedicated helpline was
provided with the collaboration
of Health department to
attend to their psychological
issues.
g) Tele-counselling was arranged
for highly stressed
workers by counselors from
Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
More than 100 professional
counsellors, mostly
alumni of the TISS, gave
counseling to the labourers.
h) Sealed the inter-State
and inter-district borders for
avoiding exodus of the Guest
Labourers.
i) Services of linguistic Liaison
Officers were utilized
to attend to the grievances
of Guest Labourers. Home
Guards were entrusted with
the additional duty of speaking
to them in their native
languages. Every camp
was provided with a Home
guard having knowledge of
Hindi/Oriya/Bengali so as to
communicate effectively with
the labourers on their problems
and to redress their
grievances.
j) Services of 84 personnel
from Central Armed Police
Forces were utilized. They
were attached to the Districts
Police units and served
as interpreters in the labour
camps.
k) Kerala Police had issued
posters, making announcements
and video messages
in various languages,
including Assamese, Oriya,
Hindi and Bengali, among
others, to sensitize the guest
workers on COVID-19 and the
importance of social distancing
and cleanliness.
l) 315810 identity cards issued
to the Guest Labourers
for easy identification.
m) Meetings of contractors,
sponsors and house owners
(who have given houses on
rent) have been called for by
Dist. Authorities and Police
wherein it was requested to
console the workers and reduce
their tensions, identifying
the fact that they were
partly responsible and capable
of any unrest or L&O situation.
n) Misinformation, rumours,
instigations spread
through social media which
are received by them even
from outside the State have
been handled promptly. Earlier
several fake messages
were circulated by mischief
mongers through Whats app
groups. To counter this active
Whatsapp campaign was conducted
by the Police and steps
were taken to disseminate correct
information and inform
them of the measures taken
by the State Government and
Police Department.
o) Stringent legal action
had been taken against the
persons disseminating social
media messages instigating
the migrant labourers for
staging protests for returning
home.
p) In spite of the above
measures, the Guest Workers
going on an agitation path demanded
that the Kerala Government
should arrange transport
facilities for their return
home and their protests ended
after much deliberations with
the Police. It was affirmed
that it was impossible for
them to travel home before
lockdown ended.
q) Television, carrom
boards, sports equipment etc,
were provided to the bigger
camps where the workers were
staying, to engage them.
r) Videos were made with
an appeal to stay comfortably
and patiently in the camps.
The videos featured celebrities,
State Police Chief speaking
in various languages to
convey the message to the
labourers.