Police to put in place extra security in Digha ahead of Durga Puja rush

Kolkata: With the expectation of a huge tourist turnout in Digha ahead of Durga Puja, police are taking necessary steps to ensure their safety and security.

It may be mentioned that Digha has now turned to be one of the favourite tourist destinations in Bengal with several steps taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the past seven years. Soon, after coming to power in 2011, the Chief Minister made elaborate plans to ensure proper development of infrastructure in Digha to attract tourists from all over the world.

According to the district administration, on all the 16 days starting from October 13 to 28, Digha will witness a huge tourist onrush. The reason being holidays in state government offices to start from October 13 onwards and continue till October 25 and a weekend on October 27 and 28.

At the same time, people working at private organisations also get holidays at a stretch for four to five days during Durga Puja. Hene, a large section of people will utilise the holidays to visit the sea-side tourist destination.

The district administration and police have chalked out an elaborate plan to ensure safety and security of the tourists.

Additional policemen and women police will be posted at different places in Digha to avoid any untoward incident during the onrush.

V Solomon Nesakumar, Superintendent of Police of East Midnapore, said: "All steps will be taken to ensure safety of people. Additional man power will be posted in Digha so that people do not face any inconvenience when they come to Digha to spend their vacation."

The security arrangement in Digha at present is much better compared to seven years ago. But with more foot fall during the Puja, police are also going to deploy additional policemen. There will be round-the–clock surveillance at the sea beach and its adjacent areas so that no one can create any sort of trouble.

At the same time, there will be arrangement for better management of traffic as a large number of vehicles will be entering Digha. The main task of police will be to ensure that tourists do not get stuck in traffic congestion and can easily move in and around the "old" and "new" Digha.