Two police stations to help athletes, tourists during C'Wealth Games

Two police stations - one in the Athletes' Village and other in Paharganj - will cater to sportspersons and tourists arriving in the capital for the Commonwealth Games.

A police station has been opened inside the Games Village which will exclusively deal with the complaints of and against athletes and delegates visiting the city while the other set up at Paharganj will deal with problems of tourists.

The facility at the Games Village were being manned by around 60 police personnel who are proficient in English. The team is being headed by additional commissioner of police (Crime) Neeraj Thakur.

"There will be around 60 personnel including three inspectors and seven sub-inspectors," a senior police officer said.

The police station is meant only to investigate complaints filed by athletes, their families and officials as well as cases against them, the official said.

"The idea is to speedily solve cases related to athletes and delegates. Crime Branch officials will help them in the investigations," the official said.

Athletes, delegates or public can report any offence to any police station but it will be transferred to the Games police station immediately for further investigations and speedy resolution, the official said.

The police station will function till October 14 and the pending cases, if any, will be transfered to Crime Branch for logical conclusion.

The tourist police station, which on the other hand will be a permanent set up, will be located at Paharganj where a large number of foreign tourists arrive.

"This police station is not just for Commonwealth Games. It will cater to the needs of tourists even after the Games. Its going to be a permanent one," the official said.

"They (the personnel) will be specifically trained to cater to the tourists. The tourists visiting the capital encounter many problems and with this, we can address their issues," he said.

The first tourist police station, which will be called Paharganj East Police Station, will be located in the heart of Paharganj. The existing police station is out of the tourist zone.

With the addition of the new facility, Delhi Police will have a total of 176 police stations, including 19 non-territorial ones.