Hill police-tourist link bid

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 14 Mar 2019, Darjeeling: Darjeeling police on Wednesday launched a number of initiatives for visitors ahead of tourism season with focus on safety, immediate redressal of grievances and inter-link between guests and the place.

Superintendent of police, Darjeeling, Amarnath K, flagged off a tourist patrol that includes a dedicated van and bikes to look into issues related to tourists.

A pink patrol van, the first-of-its-kind initiative, has also been started by the police and it will be manned by women police personnel who will deal with problems faced by women in Darjeeling.

"During the last tourism season, we had received a number of complaints from tourists about online booking and taxi drivers charging exorbitant fares. Keeping these complaints in mind, we have started a number of initiatives," said Amarnath. The SP said the police would try to reach out to the aggrieved party as early as possible. "We are looking at a response time of about 15 to 20 minutes in the Darjeeling town," said Amarnath.

The tourism season starts from the March-end and continues till June. The de- partment has come up with a dedicated tourist helpline number, 0354-2256356, and WhatsApp number 8116988666 and emergency dial number 100 has also been acti- vated.

"We will ensure that no tourist taxis are driven by drunk drivers," said Amar- nath.

A special tourist camp will be set up at Simulbari -- the entry point to the Darjeeling hills, where breath analysis will be compulsorily done on drivers of all taxis climbing up the hills.

Water will be distributed to tourists at the camp and medi- cines will also be kept.

Rahul Pandey, DSP (town), will monitor a tourist helpline desk in Darjeeling. "We re- alised that tourists come as guests and their primary interaction is only with hotel people. The helpline desk will start a number of online competitions like photography contest and so on so that they are involved with the place and people." The contest will be held on a regular basis starting from the third week of March.

"If a tourist from a different state wins a prize during his holiday in Darjeeling, we believe they will return with fond memories," said Amarnath..