Dooars is now new destination for tourists for its scenic beauty and picturesque forest. A section of tourists who are little bit adventurous also prefer to trek along the jungle and hills in Dooars. Some places in the region have been developed as tourist destination in the state and showcased by the government since last few years. Alipurduar Police accordingly has introduced Tourist Police to provide necessary security cover for those who visit emerging tourist destinations like Buxa, Jayanti, Haatipota, Raimatang, Khayerbari and particularly Jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. Forest areas are open for tourists except 90 days from 15 June.
Securities of tourists are all time priority of Alipurduar Police. District Intelligence Branch (DIB) verifies reports on guests’ check in and checkout of all the hotels through online. They also verify the identities of guests at Home Stay. Such verification of tourists gives police a clear picture about the people who visit Dooars for spending leisure time or any other purpose.
Superintendent of Police Avvaru Ravindranath told West Bengal PROTECTOR that forest covers one-third of total area in the district. Naturally crimes related to forest i.e. poaching, tree felling, timber smuggling were common at times. It was a major challenge for the police to stop poaching and smuggling in the sensitive forest and bordering areas as the poaching gangs hailed from other states. Elephant tusk and horn of rhino are precious and sold in crores of rupees in foreign countries. A horn of rhino is sold at Rs 1.2 crore. Poaching gangs from Assam and other North Eastern states in connivance with locals used to kill wild animals for smuggling their tusks, horns, skins, etc. for earning lucrative amounts. Those gangs did not even bother to exchange fire with deadly weapons to kill forest guards. But now forest crime has come down as villagers have been sensitized. Villagers have been advised to report police in case they see any stranger in the village and about suspicious movement of him or any local. Poaching has been contained since 2015 following people’s awareness and security beef up. The police had arrested goons of two poaching gangs one from Assam and another from Manipur and seized two AK 47 rifles. No incident of poaching has been reported thereafter.
Alipurduar district has 95 K.M international borders with Bhutan and 30 K.M inter-state borders with Assam. Jaigaon in Alipurduar district is bordering town which shares borders with Phuntsholing, the gateway of Bhutan. Lots of Bhutanese nationals travel through these borders. Police keep eyes on law and order in the region and guard borders in association with CRPF and SSB. Earlier poachers and smugglers managed to flee through the borders after committing crimes. But strict surveillance has stopped such crimes. Alipurduar police is ever vigilant in border areas so that no insurgent can sneak into this district. SP said 60 CCTV cameras have been installed in 17 vulnerable places of which 25 CCTV cameras alone have been installed in the border areas at Jaigaon with the help of Jaigaon Development Authority. One company CRPF personnel have been deployed at Barobisha near Assam border and some Border Out Posts are run at Indo- Bhutan borders by 34 Battalion of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Two highway patrol vans patrol round the clock on highways.
Besides observing Road Safety Week, Alipurduar Police also organises ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ campaign in association with local schools, clubs, NGOs and emphasises on bringing changes in road user’s behaviour by creating rudimentary knowledge on traffic rules and road sense. Traffic infrastructures on NH 31 and other roads have been developed. Asian Highway will also come up within a year. Twenty auto manual signals, road stud, guard rails have been installed at different important crossings. Police come down heavily on the offenders for drunken driving, signal violation and over speeding .The district police uses breathe analyzer, laser speed gun to ascertain such offenses. Forty two driving license have been cancelled within a few months for flouting traffic rules.
There are 62 tea gardens in the district where police carried on awareness campaign and sensitised people on various issues and also extended necessary support as part of the community initiatives. Awareness programme and continuous campaign against Human Trafficking at all tea gardens, schools and villages has almost zeroed down trafficking in the district and in recognition of this exemplary effort US Consulate has felicitated SP Avvaru Ravindranath. Police also launched an awareness campaign at every Gram Panchayat about ATM fraud and thousands of leaflets were distributed among the villagers. In such camps police explained how villagers were lured by 
the frauds. Police warned them not to share ATM pin with anybody because no Bank official ask it for. The villagers were advised to ignore such unsolicited phone calls and/or SMS. Awareness campaign against narcotic drug is also organised every year. There are eight police stations and one women police station in the district and peace committees have been formed in every police station area to ensure harmony among all communities, SP informed. He said, 8.56 acre land has been earmarked for construction of police barracks, canteen, armoury, family quarters etc in police lines. State government has sanctioned Rs 42 crores for development of these infrastructures and another Rs 8 crores for erecting a four storied building where offices of SP, Addl. SP and other senior officers will be housed.
Abhijit Chatterjee
