नागरिक पोष्ट News

 Police Inspector Tulasa Khatiwada, is the in-charge of Tourist Police Unit. She joined the unit as the in-charge from March 2016. She was with the Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police before assuming responsibility at the Tourist Police Unit. “Safety and security of foreign tourists our major concern Tourist Police Unit  works in 26 locations across the country. There are altogether 227 police personnel under our unit. Along with the main unit on the premises of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), there are eight satellite units in Kathmandu Valley, four units in Pokhara. The main unit in Pokhara is also under the command of Inspector.  Apart from these locations, we are also present in border cities of Kakarbhitta, Birgunj and Bhairahawa and Janaki temple in Janakpur. These units are generally focused on tourists coming via India. We also have units in Himalayan districts like Solukhumbu, Manang, Mustang, Myagdi and Rasuwa. We also tell hawkers not to hassle tourists. Likewise, our units patrol heritage sites round the clock to ensure safety and security of tourists. We work in coordination with local units of Nepal Police to control .  

Generally we receive cases related to theft or robbery and harassments. In cases of theft and robbery, we provide copies of first information reports to tourists so that they can make insurance claims back home. Sometimes, we get complaints of sexual harassments and even rape attempts from female tourists. We take such cases with priority but the plaintiffs often withdraw their cases because they need to get back to their country. Similarly, we also get cases against harassments and rape attempts by guides. The orientation programs that we conduct on a regular basis are helping to discourage such acts by Nepali tourism workers.

Sometimes, embassies get involved in major cases. We take serious cases with great priority. We work in close coordination with the embassy concerned.and Nepal Police headquarters. But we cannot work effectively without the support of NTB as well as other stakeholders of the tourism industry. We work in close coordination with all. Most of the cases that we handle come through different travel trade associations and well as enterprises. It is very important to have a healthy relationship with the industry, and we have been getting good support and coordination from them till now. We are present in social networking sites like Facebook. This is becoming effective in information dissemination as we also get complaints, queries and suggestions from our Facebook page.

- Source: Imagenepal