CISF official posted at warship building GRSEL succumbs to COVID-19

A Central Industrial Security Force personnel posted at the GRSEL, a warship manufacturing facility in Kolkata, has succumbed to the novel coronavirus, officials said on Friday. They said head constable Susanta Kumar Ghosh, 58, was a resident of Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

This is the fourth death from coronavirus in the about 1.62 lakh personnel strong force and the second from this unit, a defence PSU located in Kolkata. Earlier, 55-year-old Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) rank official from this unit had succumbed to the virus. An official posted at the Indian Museum in Kolkata and another in the unit that guards the Mumbai international airport have been the earlier COVID-19 casualties in the force.

At least 40 CISF personnel of the GRSEL unit have been infected with the disease and as per latest data, only one personnel is under treatment, while the rest have recovered. The Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Limited (GRSEL), under the administrative control of the Defence Ministry, was entrusted with building four Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes (ASWCs) for the Navy, all of which have been delivered.

It is a strategically important and sprawling warship building facility that caters to the combat vessel requirements of not only the Navy but also the Coast Guard. The GRSEL has both wet and dry docks for ship building and trial purposes which open on the river front. Over 400 armed CISF personnel were deployed here in 2016 for providing an anti-terror cover to the facility backed by vehicle-borne quick reaction teams.