The police patrolling initiative taken up by the Puri police in the Puri-Konark marine drive with financial support from the State Tourism Department since November last year has been stopped for last ten days due to fund crunch.
According to the Puri police Reserve Inspector, as per a decision taken at a high-level meeting, the Tourism Department was bearing the expenses for patrolling starting from fuel charge to drivers’ salary. Initially in November 2012, when the initiative was started the department had provided Rs 3 lakh for the purpose from the Marine Drive Development Fund (MDDF). But the department did not provide any financial assistance for the purpose for last three months, resulting in disruption of patrolling, he said.
The District Tourism Officer said former Tourism Secretary Ashok Kumar Tripathy had directed for bearing of the expenses from the MDDF and no special fund allocation or provision was made for this. “Hence, after Tripathy’s transfer from the department, we face problem to sanction fund.” “We have sent a fresh proposal for resumption of the fund to the new Tourism Secretary,” he added. Notably, the National Commission for Women recently demanded 24-hour police patrolling on the Puri-Konark marine drive in the wake of the gangrape and murder of a blind girl on the marine drive.