#COVIDDurga: Taking The Virus Fight To Streets
Banita Maharana is a popular and people-friendly officer who is currently serving as the IIC of the Women Police Station, Bhubaneswar. Since the outbreak of this pandemic, she has played an active role in implementing lockdown/shutdown restrictions and creating public awareness on safety guidelines in the city. Despite the risk of getting infected, Banita has never let the Covid fear prevent her from discharging her duties and serve people. Apart from performing her professional duties, she has also managed her personal responsibilities well, taking good care of her family during the pandemic.
She said, “The nature of our duty is to prevent and detect crimes as well as maintain law and order. When the pandemic broke out, everyone was in a state of panic. The police department convened a meeting to face the situation but we had no idea with whom to fight and whom to save. We didn’t know which was the target group and who were the victims. These were the challenges we faced.”
In the month of March, the police department held an emergency meeting to tackle the situation. Officers like Banita were assigned additional responsibilities like ensuring safety and security of people, enforcement of restrictions and public sensitisation. “Basically, there were two kinds of work, one was to manage the public and the other was to fight Covid-19. With the support of our seniors, we went to the field. Despite being the most vulnerable group to the infection, we carried out our responsibilities religiously and now with God’s grace, we have managed to control the pandemic situation to some extent and sensitise people,” the IIC said.
The public expects more care and guidance from lady officers which was a kind of advantage for her, she said.
Besides being the best in her professional career, Banita has proven herself to be a good daughter-in-law and wife. She said, “I am blessed with a loving and caring family. Due to their support, I could manage both my personal and professional life. Since I was constantly exposed to the Covid-19 threat due to the nature of my work, my family was also at risk. I suggested my in-laws move to some safe place as there are kids and elderly members in our family. But they refused to leave me and stood by my side. They were my support system when I was fighting this deadly virus.”
Banita informed that she tries to lend a helping hand in doing the household chores whenever she gets time. Besides, she takes care of the kids in her family before coming to work every day.
