KOCHI: With another tourist season set to kick off, the major question is whether tourists are safe in Kochi. The safety of tourists was under question mark when a Japanese woman was assaulted by a local in Fort Kochi on Wednesday. Even as the police have set up a wing excusively for tourists, their duty is more or less that of a guide than ensuring the safety of the tourists.The website of the Kochi police says that “tourist police, who are also trained by the Tourism Department are identifiable to the public or tourists by their uniform and metal badge.They are actually a blessing to foreign and domestic tourists alike. The present strength of the tourist police in Kochi is four head constables and 20 constables.They are deployed at Vasco da Gama Square, Kamala Kadav, Prince street, Fort Kochi beach, and St Francis Church where Vasco De Gama’s body was originally buried. These places are under the jurisdiction of the Fort Kochi police station. The Jewish Synagogue, Dutch Palace, Jews Street, Mattanchery Boat Jetty, Marine Drive, Bolgatty Palace, KSRTC bus stand and Ernakulam Junction railway station and North railway station are the other places where tourist police are deployed.”But when the City Express roamed around these places, apart from Fort Kochi area no tourist policemen were seen.The locals in Mattancherry said that the police are of no use as no one has been spotted in the night or day. A tourist agent operating in Fort Kochi said the safety of the tourist still remains the sole responsibility of the agents and the police are not interested in it. “In the tourist season, we will have around 30-40 clients. With such a high number of tourists coming to the city, the tourist police should ensure the safety of these people. But most of the tourist spots are not getting any kind of services from them. Even when they claim that the proper patrolling and monitoring of the tourists are conducted, nothing of this kind is happening in the city,” a tourist agent said.Similar incidents of attacks on tourists was reported in the past several years. To put a curb on this, the city police and the Tourism Department had taken initiatives to set up a tourist police station in Fort Kochi last year.City Police Deputy Commissioner T Gopalakrishna Pillai said the tourist police had been mainly deployed in tourist places. “The tourist police are deployed mostly in tourist places. The incidence that occurred on Tuesday happened inside a tourist home. Since Fort Kochi is the prime area of Kochi, we have deployed more tourist police there. The routine policing and patrolling are high in these areas. The number of tourist policemen in the above said areas may be low. But we have local police and shadow police personnel there,” Gopalakrishana Pillai said.
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