Visitors vulnerable to security hazards at parks, ghats
Civic agencies pass the buck, say security arrangements solely the responsibility of police
LUCKNOW: How safe are tourists and foreign nationals in Uttar Pradesh? This has become a million-dollar question, especially when the state’s parks and ghats have scant security arrangements to assist tourists in case of emergencies.
Worse still, officials with agencies like nagar nigam and development authorities that ensure the maintenance of parks continue to pass the buck, saying that security arrangements for visitors are solely the responsibility of the police.
Officials with these agencies in Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi and Allahabad — that are prime districts of UP on the tourists map – said they had deputed a few security guards in parks while the police ensures safety arrangements at ghats.
“We don’t have any special security arrangements in parks or at ghats. We have deputed a few private guards at prime parks in the city who ensure security. This is all we can do,” said Udai Raj Singh, municipal commissioner, LMC.
Lucknow, which has a footfall of around 29 lakh tourists annually (as per UP tourism records), altogether has around 1,600 parks and around half a dozen ghats. Of these, around two dozen parks including Kargil Park, Hathi Park, Janeshwar Mishra Park and Lohia Park attract a lot of tourists. Barring Janeshwar Mishra Park and Lohia Park, none of the parks in the city have adequate security arrangements for visitors.
Hathi Park and Kargil Park (of
LMC) in Old City are guarded by three private security guards each. Civic officials said there is no need for guards here as there are no valuable assets of municipal corporation in the park.
On the other hand, the Janeshwar Mishra Park spread over 376 acres has 150 private security guards who work in three shifts. Fifty guards work to man the sprawling park in each shift of eight hours. Similarly, another
big park under the LDA’s jurisdiction is the 76- acre Lohia Park, which is manned by around 60 guards who work in three shifts.
In Agra, security remains an issue of concern at Mehtab Bagh and other parks.
There have been demands for cultural activities at the specially created platform at Mehtab Bagh during night hours but the idea seems to be restricted to paper only with security remaining a
major issue at this site. Though Vishram Ghat in Mathura is otherwise safe, many other ghats in the twin cities of Mathura and Vrindavan are in a neglected condition.
“After the Swiss couple incident, fresh directives are being issued to district police chiefs regarding security of foreign nationals,” said UP ADG of police, crime, Chandra Prakash.