Tourists from other states under scanner

JAIPUR – Report to the police and secure all necessary details of identification when you have a guest from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Nepal.

This was the message given by Vipul Chaturvedi, commandant, Security Training School (STS), Rajasthan Police, to the members of Hotel Association of Jaipur.

“Ensure that you keep a vigil on the activities of the visitors from across the border, apart from informing the police,” said Chaturvedi, addressing a seminar on basic security measures in hotels, jointly organized by the Hotel Association of Jaipur and STS. In the wake of the 26/11 carnage, he warned the hoteliers against indiscriminate hirings.

“Ensure that you have all the details of your employees in place and that you have verified them. It is very easy for terror agents to take refuge in hotels as employees and what happened at the Taj is for everyone to see and learn. The attackers knew every detail of the Taj,” said Chaturvedi.

Chaturvedi, along with Mukesh Agarwal, secretary, Hotel Association of Jaipur, discussed at length what basic measures should the hoteliers adopt and how it can help in creating a safe environment. Apart from issuing a 12-point guideline to them on identification of guests, keeping their records and safety instruments, He instructed the hoteliers not to delete their CCTV footages immediately. The footages can help in finding clues to any incident happening in the surroundings.

“In the July attacks in London, the police had over 20,000 hours of CCTV footages at various locations and they provided every detail of the attackers that helped them solve the case,” Chaturvedi said.

The police officers demonstrated the use and application of various security devices ranging from simple devices to some hi-tech ones. Hoteliers were inquisitive about the devices but most of them were concerned about the prices of these products.

Summing up the hoteliers opinion, Mukesh Agarwal said, “Security is a top priority for us and we will like to promote Jaipur as the safest destination in the country. All our members were willing to install these devices, but for most of the budget hotels, these devices are expensive. We have decided that we’ll ask the government to subsidize some security equipment for budget hotels and will also soon set standard guidelines for minimum safety requirements in budget hotels across the city.”