Media persons on duty at sensitive places in Haryana will get body protectors and helmets to ensure their safety during violence.
Director General of Police KP Singh, who was in Fatehabad town to enquire about police personnel and media persons injured in a clash with Jat protestors a day back, said media people also required protection during mob violence. Singh on Monday said rioters involved in the attack were being identified.
"The video footage of the incident is available and the faces of anti-social elements are clearly visible," he pointed out.
He said para-military forces in the area assisted the police force that was under attack.
The officer met the injured at the Fatehabad Civil Hospital.
Over 20 people, including 18 police personnel and three media persons, were injured when Jat protestors moving towards Delhi on tractor-trolleys clashed with the police after being stopped for carrying sharp-edged weapons in Fatehabad district on Sunday.
Singh announced that the entire expenditure of treatment of the injured media persons would be borne by the district administration and they would also be given financial assistance of Rs 5,000 each.
They would also be honoured at the State level Independence Day celebrations on August 15, he said.
While interacting with the injured mediapersons at Civil Hospital, Fatehabad, he said that the media persons would also be compensated by the district administration for the loss suffered by them due to damage caused to their cameras and mobile phones and also for the cash snatched by the rioters.
Stating that at times both the police and the media have to work in difficult circumstances, the DGP said that he was appreciative of the manner in which the media persons and the police personnel faced the rioters a day before.
Had the police not acted wisely, many precious lives could be lost, he added.
The DGP said that police had inputs that the anti-social elements, armed with weapons from some villages of district Hisar adjacent to Fatehabad border, would reach the ‘dharna’ at Dhani Gopal Chowk and would try to disturb the situation.
On the basis of this input, the police had tried to stop them from reaching the spot by putting barricades and told them to visit the ‘dharna’ site without weapons and stones. But they did not listen to it and attacked the police, he added.
Earlier, while addressing the personnel of district police and of fecurity forces in Fatehabad, the DGP said that all the basic amenities like the air coolers, water coolers with Reverse Osmosis (RO) system, lED screens of 62 inches and beds with mattresses would be provided in the offices of all police stations and police lines of the state before April 15.