Centre to review safety of tourists with state governments

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January 10, 2008 17:56 IST

In the wake of rising incidence of crime against tourists, particularly women, the Centre has decided to review safety and security measures with the state governments on January 24.

A communication in this regard was sent to all chief secretaries by Tourism Secretary Shilabhadra Banerjee on Thursday, according to an official spokesman.

State tourism secretaries are meeting the Union Tourism Ministry in New Delhi on January 24 to review tourism projects and related issues.

It has now been decided that the safety and security of the tourists would be one of the main topics on the agenda, the spokesman said.

In his letter to the Chief Secretaries, Banerjee has referred to recent media reports of harassment of women tourists and reminded the state governments about the concerns of the Centre on the safety and security of foreign as well as domestic tourists.

It reminded the bureaucrats that the Centre had advised the states to deploy tourist police at popular destinations.

In the latest cases of crime against foreign tourists, a British journalist was allegedly raped by the owner of a guest house in Udaipur and an American tourist was molested while offering prayers at a temple in Pushkar.

Kerala has already registered two cases of alleged molestation of female tourists.

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