A dos and don’ts manual for tourists

Two days after a terror attack wrenched the heart of Delhi, a local NGO has taken it upon itself to ensure that foreign visitors are never targeted again.

Two days after a terror attack wrenched the heart of Delhi, a local NGO has taken it upon itself to ensure that foreign visitors are never targeted again.

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"We have come out with a 50-page security manual with guidelines exclusively for tourists and are distributing it to foreign visitors at one of the most popular tourist haunts in the city — the Paharganj market," said Denson Joseph, president, Jagruk Nagrik Suraksha Sangathan (JNSS).

The JNSS is a central Delhi-based NGO and has chosen the Paharganj area as a sample location for its citizen policing initiative. In addition to distributing safety manuals to tourists, JNSS volunteers have been positioned at eight crucial entry-cum-exit points in the densely populated tourist hotspot to keep it safe from a potential terrorist onslaught during the Commonwealth Games.

"If a terrorist attack similar to Sunday's assault at the Jama Masjid — where the assailants shot at tourists and swiftly fled by disappearing into by lanes, takes place at Paharganj they will be intercepted by our volunteers who will attempt to stop them while they make their exit. Even if they don't succeed, they will be able to provide crucial intelligence to the police," Joseph said.

In all, more than 50 JNSS volunteers have been stationed near locations such as the New Delhi railway station, the RK Ashram Marg and the Deshbandhu Gupta Road-Chitragupta Marg intersection among others from 8 am to 8pm since September 18.

"The security manual has the deployment points of our volunteers marked in red so that the tourists can approach them for any kind of assistance as and when required or to counter harassment from touts and the like," he added.

More than 500 copies of the safety manual have been distributed to foreign visitors in three days.