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| Tourists fleeced in Valley, Tourism Police absent | | | Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
Srinagar, May 24: With the state authorities beating the trumpet of tourist arrival with gusto, the absence of the tourism police is adding woes to the tourists who arrive in droves in valley and their complaints going unnoticed and unattended.
The tourism police force in Jammu and Kashmir was established 38 years back in 1978 but the successive regimes in the state took no measure to strengthen it or make it more effective on ground. The result of such a non- serious approach by the helmsmen is becoming worrisome with tourists coming to valley complaint about harassment at several places with no one paying any heed to their pleas.
A senior official in the department of tourism told Early Times that the tourism police otherwise established to save tourists from getting cheated, fleeced or harassed is so meagre in number that its presence is rarely felt on ground. " The issue about the thin number of tourist police personal in the state has been raised for several times before the successive regime but there has been no concrete action due to which the complaints made by the tourists only mount with no one to listen to their woes," official divulged.
Reports inform that at several prime tourist destinations some taxi operators and ponywallas charge tourists heavily and there are no measures being taken by the concerned authorities against them. For a mere few kms stretch of ride tourists are made to pay hefty amounts, an example being the taxi service to Thajwas glacier in Sonamarg. Similarly, in Pahalgam non-local taxi operators are not allowed to provide the service to tourists. Tourists have to hire another taxi here to see the place. Numerous complaints have been made by tourists to cops within the jurisdictions of prime destinations. The response as per the reports, has been nil.
Meanwhile, sources said that Chief minister has taken a strong notice to such crises on ground and has directed the concerned officials to take strong note of the complaints being made by the tourists who come to valley. The chief minister, as per the highly placed sources, has asked the tourism department to make the complaint registration numbers public so that tourists who face inconvenience could report their complaints. Furthermore, the government is comtemplating over the strengthening the tourism police in the state and make it available in prime tourist destinations.
There have been discussions over making proper arrangements for the tourism police at various tourist destinations and equip them with latest facilities in a bid to make them more effective ground. "We are very hopeful that an order in this regard shall be passed within days to come.
The government at present is really serious about the complaints which have been mounting over cheating or fleecing the tourists. It is a high time to put lid over such lawlessness," an official privy to this development told Early Times. |
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