Tourist rush begins, Manali misses cops due to election duty

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, April 26

With the tourist arrivals picking up in Manali, not many additional police personnel have been deployed for regulating the vehicular traffic. Generally, around 250 additional personnel from the reserve forces and nearly 150 Home Guards are deployed from April 15 till June-end during the peak tourist season. However, this time the police department has received a limited number additional personnel so far.

Kullu SP Karthikeyan Gokulachandran said a requisition for additional 250 police personnel and 150 Home Guards had been sent. “So far, an additional 30 police personnel and seven Home Guards have been deployed,” he said.

The tourist season is gaining momentum in Kullu with Manali town witnessing arrival of around 1,000 vehicles every day, which goes up to 5,000 vehicles daily during peak season. Additional forces are deployed every year to regulate traffic and maintain law and order. As personnel from the reserve police forces and Home Guards have been deputed in other states on election duty, additional forces have not been deputed in Kullu yet.

Traffic jams are being witnessed at tourist hotspots in and around Manali with the situation aggravating during the weekend.

Manali residents say the need for additional police personnel in Manali is being felt strongly. Suresh Sharma, a tourism beneficiary of Manali, said, “Additional forces should be deployed in Manali on priority so that tourists do not face hassles. The administration should ban parking on the roadside during the season.”

Sushil, another local, said, “Most parking lots in Manali are occupied by local taxis, a practice that need to be checked.”

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