Over 14,000 pollution masks for city police

New Delhi: To save traffic and police personnel from inhaling pollutants, the Delhi police has ordered 14,500 anti-pollution masks for this summer.

A senior official with the Delhi police said that under extreme weather conditions, a policeman serves around 12-hour of a day inhaling all kinds of pollutants in various intersection of the city. Around 5,000 staff of traffic policemen and 8,000 staff deployed in various PCR vans are most prone to pollutants. “Police personnel deployed in PCR vans and on traffic duty are worst effected because of vehicular pollution. The policemen often suffer from respiratory problems or heart diseases as they are constantly expose to pollution,” said a senior police official.

“After exploring all kinds of anti-pollution gadgets available in the market, a demand of good quality masks for about 5,000 traffic policemen was made so that they don’t inhale poisonous pollutants,” said Garima Bhatnagar, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

“In the new masks, if the filter chokes depending on usage and prevalent air quality, it can be removed and replaced. These masks are air-tight and give proper protection to our personnel. The rest of the mask can be washed. So these masks can be used for long periods,” she added.

In December last year, the Delhi traffic police had failed to provide pollution mask to traffic policemen when the city battled worst air pollution levels in the last 17 years.