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| Toothless tourist police in Jammu has a name only | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | June 11
If you make inquiries about the place where you can contact the Tourist place from even the police control Room you will get no information.The Jammu police Control Room and other Government agencies do not have any information about the office of Tourist police.Well one can imagine the importance that the Government has attached to this vital wing of the police.If tourists,including pilgrims to Mata Vaishnov Devi shrine,want to lodge a complaint against cheating or against robbery or against any misbehaviour from cab,three-wheeler owners the police stations normally do not register such complaints.Their standard answer is "go register your complaint with the tourist police."The excursionists and the pilgrims,cheated during their stay in Jammu,face an awkward situation.
Enquiries by me revealed hitherto unrevealed miracle.The state has a total strength of 76 tourist police officials those are headed by one SSP.He is assisted by a couple of inspectors and subinspectors and the rest are constables.At least by chance I could trace out a room in the Railways complex in Jammu which houses the office of tourist police.Do you know the number of men deployed to ensure a cover against cheating,molestation and other probelms which the tourists and pilgrims face in and around the Railway station?You will be amzed when you are told that the total number of tourist police officials in Jammu is four.One SHO heads the post.The remaining 72 tourist police personnel,including the SSP,are stationed in Srinagar. Luckily neither the BJP leadership nor those belonging to the state Morcha or to the Panthers Party know it.Had they any information about it they would have started roaring against continued discrimination of the Jammu region.If they rake the regional discrimination issue they cannot be blamed because Jammu has become a base camp for several lakh tourists and pilgrims to Vaishnov Devi and Amarnath cave..
When you enquire about the cases tourists and pilgrims have registered in the office you are again surprised when the list is not long.It does not mean that the cases pertaining to cheaing of tourists and pilgrims besides overcharging by cab and three-wheeler drivers are minimum.It is not the case.Tourists or pilgrims prefer to tolerate cheating and other malpractices to facing trauma and tribulations which could greet them if they try to register a complaint.Possibly the Government does ot seem prepared to attach much importance to tourist police department when it has been trying all possible means for attracting bigger number of tourists and pilgrims to the state.The Government should realise that when about 75 lakh pilgrims visit the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi annually there then exists the need for strengthening the tourist police department.Those who have travelled by trains from various stations to Jammu have never seen a tourist policeman on duty for preventing railway coolies and cab and three-wheller drivers from overchaging.
Once the train arrives coolies charge any amount they wish for carrying the luggage of the passengers upto the taxi or matador stands.Cab and auto drivers charge three times more than the rates listed in the rate list but there is no tourist police to enforce rules.If one says it is not the job of the tourist police to check overcharging or register cases of cheating then for what purpose the Department has been established.Since the state's economy banks on the flow of tourist and pilgrim traffic mere building huts and pressing into services buses cannot alone attract excursionists to the state.If pilgrims or other visitors come to Jammu and Kashmir they would like to enjoy a hassle-free stay.And there is no sight of the tourist police or what is called civil police when cab drivers charge three times more than the rate fixed for Jammu-Katra or Jammu-Srinagar travel.There is no tourist police official at the Jammu airport to check whether the cab drivers charge normal rates for carrying passengers from Jammu to Patnitop or to Katra or to any station in the city of temples.If random checking is carried out it would be a tale of overcharging and nothing else.Worst of all is that tourists travelling by taxis or going out for shopping or while staying in hotels miss a friendly face of the drivers,traders and the hotel owners.They seem to be waiting for fleecing them.So it is time for the Government to act fast lest the state loses charm for pilgrims and excursionists. |
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