Ctg beaches to get tourist police
Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) will constitute a unit of tourist police to facilitate tourism, protect biodiversity, and secure the two seashores along the port city.
A proposal will be sent to the police headquarters in Dhaka in this regard soon.
The proposal says Patenga and Parki beaches are very attractive tourist spots where thousands arrive every day, but there is no separate law enforcement unit to attend the tourists as well as check activities harmful for the environment.
Only 114 police personnel from Patenga and Karnaphuli police stations have to check law and order in the beach areas in addition to their regular policing.
The two police stations also maintain law and order in a good number of important establishments like Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco), Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL), Marine Academy, Marine Fisheries Academy, Korean EPZ, Shah Amanat International Airport, Eastern Refinery, and Karnaphuli EPZ.
The proposal says this creates a shortage of security measures, for which visitors cannot spend their time on the beaches after a certain period of the day.
Moreover, once the Karnaphuli tunnel connecting the two beaches is constructed, it will increase the number of tourists tremendously apart from helping expansion of industrial and economic activities on the banks of the Karnaphuli river, it adds.
Then it will be quite impossible for the existing workforce to attend tourists and save biodiversity from degradation, the proposal says.
So the CMP has asked, in the proposal, for 537 police members, including 150 female personnel, to introduce the new unit, said CMP sources.
The Patenga beach stretches over 17 kilometres from the Naval Academy to Kattali on the city's western edge while Parki is a 10 kilometres long beach just across the Karnaphuli.
According to the proposal, a deputy commissioner will head the tourist police, which will work in three groups--one will look after Bandar area, another will check South area, and the other will be dedicated for biodiversity conservation.
Twelve police outposts will be set up under Patenga and Karnaphuli police stations, which cover areas of the two beaches.
CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime) Banaj Kumar Majumdar, who played a prominent role in opening a tourist police unit in Cox's Bazar, said tourist police would get special training to help the growth of tourism and conservation of nature.
The unit will also provide information about tourist facilities and help coastal people during any natural disaster, he said.
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