Relaunched in 2019, tourism police project loses steam in holy city

Tribune News Service

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, March 15

Despite the fact that the holy city witnesses footfall of thousands of tourists and devotees from all over the world daily, their security and safety has never been a priority of the city police. This is one of the main reasons that tourists, especially outsiders, have become an easy target for miscreants.

Recently, a woman tourist from Sikkim lost her life in a snatching instance on the Amritsar-Attari road when she along with her friend was returning after watching the Beating Retreat ceremony last month. Besides, two tourists lost their valuables to snatchers in the recent past. Similarly, so many incidents of crime against tourists have been reported in the last few years.

The tourism police project relaunched with much fanfare four years ago has lost steam with no tourism police personnel ever seen on any road. At present, just three cops are left in the wing as most of others have been shifted to other wings of the department.

It would be no exaggeration to say that most of the city residents will hardly be aware of the launch of such a project.

Intially, The project was re-launched in October 2019 to act as a bridge between tourists and the police. When launched, it had 20 well-trained policemen, including women, headed by an inspector-rank official and their number was to be increased to 70. The police had planned to depute them at various religious and tourist places for providing guidance and assistance to tourists.

Initially, as a pilot project, it was launched at the Golden Temple plaza and Heritage Street to guide tourists.