One more Maharashtra cop dies; families of 39 police Covid victims get ‘speedy’ compensation

MUMBAI: Yet another police officer from the state succumbed to Covid even as families of 39 police personnel, who died of the disease, received compensation in a “swift” manner minus the red tape and bureaucracy.
The railway police in Pune lost their first officer to Covid on Thursday, taking the toll police deaths in Maharashtra to 103 so far. Sub-inspector M J Darekar (57), in charge of Kurduwadi railway police station, had last reported on duty on July 19 and got himself admitted to hospital a few hours later after complaining of pain in the abdomen and back.
Railway police inspector Pramod Kulkarni from Kurduwadi said, “His medical examination showed he had jaundice and hepatitis.Later that day, he also tested positive for Covid.” He was due for retirement in 11 months.
In another development, families of other police personnel who died of Covid thanked the department and the state for speedly release of compensation.
Like the family of constable Dilip Mohite (54) of Dahisar police station, who died on May 29, received the compensation amount of Rs 50 lakhon July 6. Similarly, relatives of constable Choudhary attached to Parksite police station who died on May 27 has also received Rs 50 lakh.
The police department welcomed the government initiative and families of police personnel praised the government for the move.
Ganesh, son of police official Sharad Mohite attached to Dadar police station, expressed satisfaction that the government was quick to sanction the compensation within 20 to 25 days after his father died. “Also, they were quick to accept my application for a job in my father’s place,” he said.
“Credit goes to the state government for taking the compensation issue very seriously and quick sanction,” said Naval Bajaj, joint commissioner of police (administration). “Of 55 cops, 39 have received compensation and the rest are in the pipeline.”
However, compensation requests of two police personnel are caught up over distribution of the compensation amount as each of these was found to have two wives.