Tourist police to be part of BTB, BPC, MoCAT's governing bodies

Dhaka : Tourist Police should be part of the governing bodies of Bangladesh Tourism Board, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Md Mainul Islam, Inspector General of Bangladesh Police, urged the move, stressing the urgency of the initiative, during the opening ceremony of a seminar at Tourist Police Headquarters in the capital on September 26.

Bangladesh Tourism Board has already made the proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and it currently awaits the approval, said Abu Taher Md Jaber, CEO of Bangladesh Tourism Board, in response.

The seminar, organised by Bangladesh Tourist Police, was on "Environmental Sustainability in Tourism: Role of Police".

While addressing the event, Md Abu Kalam Siddique, DIG of Bangladesh Tourist Police, stressed, the force could play a huge role in ensuring environmentally sustainable tourism in Bangladesh.

However, due to not involving them in the governing bodies of BTB, BPC and MoCAT; Bangladesh Tourist Police has been unable to contribute in the country's development of environmentally sustainable tourism.

He stressed, Tourist Police currently does not have any jurisdiction over deforestation, planning or infrastructure development initiatives that take place, especially in tourist destinations of the country.

The force is not included during the process of formulating the concerned policies, he sighed.

Therefore, they fail to prevent any action that hamper the forestry, environment, biodiversity and wildlife of a destination.

However, the aforementioned areas are crucial to ensure environmentally sustainable tourism in Bangladesh, the DIG further claimed.

Hence, Bangladesh Tourism Board has proposed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to include Bangladesh Tourist Police in the governing bodies of the concerned organisations, according to BTB CEO. 

Furthermore, during the closing ceremony, Dr Md Mokhles Ur Rahman, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, assured his support to employ more manpower in tourist police.

He further informed that tourist police will soon be the primary law enforcement body to serve the country's travel destinations.

To this effect, a public gadget is in the works to be published in the coming days, also claimed the Senior Secretary.

M Shakawat Hossain, ADIG of Tourist Police; Dr Santus Kumar Deb, Professor, Department of Tourism and Hospitality of University of Dhaka; Md Rafeuzzaman, President of TOAB and Abdus Salam Aref, President of ATAB were also present on the occasion, among others.