Amritsar police to launch its tourist wing in August

AMRITSAR :After repeated failure in its attempt to launch tourism wing, the Amritsar Police has once again geared up to launch the special wing from August.

Around 100 police personnel, including 20 women cops, are being trained. A series of meeting are being held in this regard.

District tourism officer (DTO) Gursharan Singh said two or three meeting have been chaired with the senior officers to set up the wing soon. “Due to lack of police tourist wing in city, the tourists have been facing several problems. But, now the wing will be launched in August,” he said.

Commissioner of police SS Srivastva, said the exact date of launch has not been decided yet.

HANGS FIRE SINCE 2014

The police had initially come up with this idea in 2014 with an aim to help tourists and curb crime against them. Amritsar police commissionerate had even trained cops for communicating in English and Hindi to benefit both domestic and international tourists in 2014, but in vain. The special tourist police are being deployed from the regular force.

In November 2016, the city police got an approval from the then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for deploying 120 special tourist police (STP). It was also decided that a dedicated police station for tourists and special information centres will also be set up. In a Hindustan Times report on November 23, 2016, it was stated that the already established information booths were lying vacant and no cops were deployed.

In January 2017, the code of conduct was imposed in Amritsar and with forthcoming elections the project was halted.

A police officer, who is a part of the training on condition of anonymity, said that the newly selected 120 cops are being trained at a local institute in English speaking and personality development.

“The cops will be tasked to help and guide the visitors, who come to pay obeisance at Golden Temple and visit other important historical places in the city,” he said.

He further said that the department also plans to deploy STPS at the Wagah border, which attracts a huge number of tourists from across the globe to see the retreat ceremony. “The cops will have a different uniform from the regular police so that they can be easily identified,” said the officer.

Among prominent tourist places are the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Durgiana Temple, Partition Museum, Gobindgarh Fort, Ram Tirath and Sadda Pind.

IN NOVEMBER 2016, THE THEN PUNJAB CM PARKASH SINGH BADAL GAVE NOD FOR DEPLOYING 120 SPECIAL TOURIST POLICE, AND INFORMATION BOOTHS BUT THE PLAN DID NOT MATERIALISE