G20 Summit: 'Tourist Police' trained in soft skills to assist visitors

Around 400 police personnel specially trained in soft skills will be deployed at prominent tourist hubs, airport, railway stations and ISBTs to help delegates and other visitors during next month's G20 Summit, officials said on Saturday.

These personnel, moving in multipurpose vehicles labelled 'Tourist Police', will be deployed at 21 locations such as monuments, popular markets, memorials, airport terminals, interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) and railway stations, the officials at the Lt Governor's Office said.

Each team comprising one Indo-Tibetan Border Police commando, a gunman and a driver will be accompanied by probationer sub-inspectors as in-charges, they said.

Every Tourist Police unit member underwent a task-oriented training progamme in association with Delhi Tourism and other agencies during which they were trained in soft skills; effective communication, including speaking in English; topography and city landmarks; and firing practice, they said.

According to the officials, the units have also been provided with booklets on do's and don'ts for tourists, physical and digital maps of Delhi and NCR, the latest fare and distance charts for taxis, list of locations of important commercial and cultural places and malls, Metro route charts and directory of emergency services.

In April, Lt Governor VK Saxena, in one of the preliminary meetings on the preparedness for the G20 Summit, directed the Delhi Police to put in place specially tasked and trained personnel for assisting visitors, tourists and delegates during the event, the officials said.

A special helpline -- 8750871111 -- has been made functional to assist the tourists, the officials said.

The prominent locations where the Tourist Police units will be deployed include the Paharganj and the Ajmeri Gate sides of New Delhi railway station, Hauz Khas Village, Palika Bazar, Red Fort, Janpath and Connaught Place, Rajghat, Humayun's Tomb, Jama Masjid, Akshardham, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, India Gate and Aerocity Mahipalpur, among others.