Celebration and festivals may be important but duty is above celebrations for them. When the whole nation would be celebrating Diwali, women police constables of Dehradun will be deployed on their duties ensuring the safety and security of the general public.
“For us, duty comes first. I started my service as a police constable eight years back and have not celebrated any festival since then. Festivals are the peak time, when large crowds throng the market to shop for the occasion. It becomes our foremost responsibility to ensure the safety of the thousands of people on the roads and in the market”, said Roshni Bhandari, woman constable deployed near Clock Tower.
She added that while she is on duty her family members, especially her sisters look after all the necessary Diwali preparations and shopping.
She hardly gets time to join them in the festival preparations and celebration.
As per the schedule of women constables, they have to perform 12 hours duty per day, starting from eight in the morning and they don’t even get any holidays during
festivals. Sometimes they have to perform extra hours of duty depending on the size of the crowd and sensitivity of the occasion.
It becomes tough for a woman constable to manage both her official duty and her domestic chores.
“Being the mother of a year old son, sometimes it becomes difficult for me to handle the official and family responsibilities together”, said woman constable Mamta Sunriyal.
She added, "During the festival time we are also deployed for some extra hours." Mamta, who hails from Pauri, said that like every year this year too she will be marking Diwali with her colleagues here in the city by performing her duty.
Another constable, Rajni Kohli said, "For us Diwali celebration begins after 8pm and sometimes this timing might be deferred. I don’t get time to participate in the festival preparations at home and my younger sister manages all chores at home. I consider myself lucky enough as I have such supportive family members who manage everything in my absence."
She also added that the ensuring safety of public is part of festivals. "The possibility of accidents and other mishaps increases during the festival so we can’t ignore such aspects for celebrating the festival," she said.