AMRESH PARAB | NT
Panaji: Goa has a 105 km-coastline and many popular beaches and tourist hangouts. But do you know that there are just 100 tourist cops to patrol beaches and ensure the safety and security of lakhs of visitors who arrive in the state annually?
Of the 100 personnel, 75 are deployed in North Goa and the rest in South Goa. The lakhs of tourists who come annually visit the beaches at least once during their stay; sadly, the number of tourist police personnel necessary to keep them safe is not enough, rued senior police officers.
“There is a need for a fully functional tourist police unit in the state. A proper plan is required for establishing a tourist police unit, which will provide assistance to the tourists and also the local police,” said a senior police officer.
Another officer, on condition of anonymity, said a professional unit is needed, and the personnel assigned to it should be trained in different Indian languages as well as some foreign ones.
“It’s the need of the hour,” the officer reckoned.
A roadmap has to be prepared, which looks ahead at least 20 years.
“A dedicated tourist police unit will be very beneficial in boosting the state’s image in terms for safety and security of tourists,” said the officer.
On September 27, World Tourism Day, the state government inaugurated a tourist police assistance booth in Candolim.
A police officer said the personnel had undergone a two-day soft skill training programme at the Institute of Hotel Management, Porvorim.
According to sources, the 100 personnel deployed at present to help tourists have been sourced from the India Reserve Battalion of the Goa police. They have been deployed along popular beaches having high footfalls – from Pernem in North Goa to Canacona in South Goa.
Apart from ensuring safety and security of tourists, these personnel have handed over to the concerned police stations persons found indulging in unauthorised activities like tattooing and providing massage and hawking different wares on the beaches.
Touts, jewellery sellers, those found drinking alcohol on beaches, and those found smoking and spitting have also been handed over to the concerned police stations.