Nagpur citizens laud cops by clapping, showering petals in Gittikhadan

NAGPUR: A contingent of around 100 cops was in for a pleasant surprise during their 6-km route march through Gupta Chowk in Surendragarh locality of Gittikhadan on Sunday when citizens started applauding and showering petals on them.
City police are conducting confidence-building route marches on the roads to enforce the corona lockdown. They help keep citizens at home and also keep trouble makers at bay in communally charged situations.
Zonal DCP Vinita Shahu had led route marches at different places in the west Nagpur in the last couple of days including the one under Gittikhadan police station.
The route march, led by Shahu along with ACP Rekha Bhaware and Senior inspector Sunil Gangurde, had started from newly constructed police headquarters. It passed through Gittikhadan chowk, Panchasheelnagar, Gawlipura, IBM Road, Dipak Nagar, Surendragarh, Gupta chowk and Friends colony before terminating at Gittikhadan police station.
Shahu said that it was a unique experience in her 11 years career when cops were greeted with petals and applause on the roads by citizens. “They turned up to cheer us when we were passing through Surendragarh and surprisingly many started showering petals making us feel special,” said Shahu, who was also the first woman IPS officer in the state to be in charge of Maoist-affected Gondia district in the past.
“This gesture made us feel different as in the past people had been indifferent to us despite our best efforts,” said Shahu who was also instrumental in launching state’s first mobile police station camps in Bhandara in 2017.
PI Gangurde said there were some showers during the route march but DCP Shahu wanted to continue even after getting drenched.
City police chief BK Upadhyay too labeled the citizens’ showering flower as ‘unprecedented’ expression of gratitude towards police for their fearless round-the-clock efforts ignoring the risk of Covid-19. “Citizens came forward to laud the hard work and commitment of the cops. It was a refreshing morale booster ‘tonic’ for us,” he said.
The citizens who did so said it was a spontaneous act. “We had some flowers at home for daily puja and we used them to show our respect for the police. We decided on seeing them march through our locality in order to keep us safe from the Covid-19,” said Hemant Dwivedi and his friends Jaiprakash Mishra, Uday Mishra and Mukesh Gupta.