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Operation Delight: 17 more Lapkas nabbed from vicinity of Taj Mahal
The campaign began on September 2 and is to continue till March 2024, said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) for Taj Mahal Security, Syed Areeb Ahmed.
Plainclothes Agra police personnel spread out in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal on Sunday and nabbed 17 unauthorised hawkers, known as Lapkas locally.
Police personnel involved in security of the monument have launched a campaign, Operation Delight, said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) for Taj Mahal Security, Syed Areeb Ahmed.
“The campaign began on September 2 and is to continue till March 2024. This being the period when maximum tourists come to Agra, making it tourism season. Till date, since September 2, we have nabbed 30 Lapkas. Since Agra acquired the status of a police commissionarate, 350 Lapkas have faced action,” said Ahmed.
This is sharp increase as previous year had seen action against 100 Lapkas while the number this year has already reached 350. Operation Delight initially began around the Taj but the success rate has made Agra police to extend its reach to other monuments besides railway stations and bus stands in Agra.
With no specific section covering harassment of tourists by these unauthorised hawkers, most of these nabbed are booked under Section 151 of Criminal Procedure Code for breach of peace.
“Besides these 350, there are 15 who have been booked for other offences, if the crime is of a serious nature, if the intention is to defraud the tourist,” he said.
“Besides, we are making efforts through pro-poor tourism initiatives involving teaching for these young children who opt to work as hawkers around the Taj Mahal. Self-help groups of widows and destitute women hawkers are constituted to help them switch to more respectable ways to earn bread,” said Ahmed.
“Operation Delight aims at providing better information to tourists, making their stay a happy one, and includes a crackdown against Lapkas,” Ahmed said.
“We can best help tourists by providing them the correct information about entry points, availability of tickets, timings of monument opening and transportation modes available. Often tourists have to rely on sources that are readily available and sometimes they prove to be a trap,” said the ACP.
“We have started by increasing the number of ticket windows at the western gate of Taj, from where most tourists make an entry. These four ticket windows include a newly introduced ticket window for additional ticket of ₹250 for the tourists who plan to visit the main mausoleum and have to buy extra after entering Taj Mahal premises” Ahmed said while thanking the Archaeological Survey of India for cooperation.
