Mysuru, one of the top tourist destinations in Karnataka, may soon get ‘friends of tourists’ to assist travellers visiting the city.
According to TOI, Home minister Ramalinga Reddy, on Friday, after reviewing policing in Mysuru city and southern police range, suggested that the city police create a special unit within the force to address issues of tourists visiting Mysuru. He asked police commissioner A S Rao to look into the issue.
“Mysuru Palace receives about 3.5 million visitors every year and annual footfall at Mysuru zoo is over 3 million. Another important tourist attraction that receives crowd in lakhs is Chamundi Hills,” Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said.
The reason for suggesting the formation of tourist police is that earlier, there were incidents of tourists being cheated, robbed and molested by miscreants.
Mysuru Police had made attempts to set up a special police unit to assist visitors at tourist places and to ensure safety to them. The police had thought of having a special unit within the department to ensure safety to visitors.
Usually, the tourists hesitate to approach the police seeking assistance as sometimes they don't get any response from them, the TOI report adds.
The Mysuru City Police Department then had discussed to deploy police at these places with slight changes in their uniform and a ‘Tourist Police’ badge so that visitors feel free to approach them for any assistance.
The plan was put on hold after the Department of Tourism launched Tourist Mitra, where trained home guards were posted at 13 districts including Mysuru, the report says.