Udaipur : For most of the people, this lockdown period is a family bonding time but for many of the front-line warriors moms from the police department in Udaipur, it is a testing period. Most of them have sent their children miles away to their maternal or paternal grand parents living in villages. The unpredictable extended duty hours, sudden calls to report during emergencies, the fear of catching the infection etc had been the reasons that many of the cop mothers specially in the Lady patrol team decided to keep away with their young kids.
The lady patrol team which was the first in Rajasthan, works in two shifts i.e. 7am-3pm and 3pm-10pm. They are not given weekly offs and most of the time, they have to be on their motorcycles, patrolling around the entire city, tasked to keep people strictly indoors. They conduct flag march, counsel people and rush on urgent calls by distressed citizens.
Chuki Chouwdhary’s 10 year old daughter Rajnika and 3 year old son Manit have been away from her for 2 months now. ” They didnt want to go but we had no other options since my husband too is in the police department, he is a guard at central jail. When we reached home after work, both of the kids ran into our laps and we really feared they could be infected. We sent them to their dada-dadi’s home at Jalore” Chuki told .
Constable Sushila Kumari’s plight is even pitiable since her daughter Tanvi is just 18 months old. She still was on breast feeding when the outbreak happened and worried about the toddler as well as their 10-year old son Mohit, Sushila and her husband decided to send the children to their grandparents home. ” Since they needed either one of us , my husband took both of them to our native place Jhunjhunu. I am dying to hold my daughter and when we connect everyday through video calls, she calls out mummaa aaja , its difficult to hold back my tears” Sushila says.
The kids have been living with both their grandparents in Bhagina and Bhapar villages, close to each other. Hemlata Menariya, a 28 year old cop attached with the lady patrol team have been living alone for 2 months now as her husband also left with their 2 year old son Monil to join his parents at Badi Sadri, Pratapgarh. ” I speak to my son for almost an hour daily and it is getting difficult day by day to pacify him as he refuses to listen and wants to come back home. Had my husband Pankaj not been with him, it would have really been difficult for the elderly people to handle my son alone” Hemlata says. Besides these, other cops in the patrol team Anita, Laxmi and Munesh too are similarly coping their loneliness after having send their kids away.
” We are really proud of the lady patrol team who are playing on the forefront to control the pandemic. Family is a source of moral support and while most of the people are lucky to get quality time with family, our cops are dealing with the double whammy of facing the infection threat as well as being away from their children which is really difficult for any mother” DySP Chetna Bhati, incharge of the patrol team said.