The Barke Police Station in the city has introduced steam inhalation facility for its personnel and visitors. As many as three persons can use the steam inhalation facility at a time.
A steel pipe with four openings has been tied to a wooden frame. Visitors and police personnel can inhale steam from the three vents or openings. A fourth opening is connected by a rubber pipe to a pressure cooker which supplies steam to the steel pipeline.
Police Inspector Jyotirling Honakatti, who conceptualised this idea, said that he practised steam inhalation at his house during his stint in Belagavi last year. “When Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar asked us to take steps to prevent COVID-19 infection, I took his permission to have this facility installed at the police station,” Mr. Honakatti told The Hindu .
Being a yoga trainer himself, Mr. Honakatti has taken inputs from Ayurveda and Naturopathy therapists before getting the steam inhalation facility installed at the police station.
A pressure cooker is filled with water, Tulsi leaves and cloves and placed on the stove. Once the stove is switched on, personnel inhale steam for about two minutes each before entering the police station and also before they leave for their houses at the end of the day. As many as 40 personnel in the Barke Police Station are making use of this facility.
While this is the first police station in the city to have steam inhalation facility, there are a good number of police stations in Chitradurga, Shivamogga and Haveri districts that have this facility for their personnel.
Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar said that he would see the results of this new facility and consider having it in other police stations too. All 20 police buildings in the city, housing police stations and other police offices, have set up kiosks outside the buildings to address complaints of people. All precautions, including hand sanitisers, masks, hand gloves and UV reader machine, are used at these kiosks. Some police stations have made arrangements to provide warm drinking water and Kashaya to their personnel, he said.
