High Altitude Destinations Safe For Visitors, Pilgrimages In J&K’s Doda: Police

Bhaderwah/Jammu, Jul 22: The high altitude tourist destinations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district are safe for tourists as Army personnel are dominating all the mountain peaks, a senior police officer has said.
Doda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Mehta said a security plan is in place in the district to ensure peaceful culmination of over 70 major and small pilgrimages in the higher reaches of the hilly district.
“The tourist footfall in the district is increasing with each passing day and we have taken all necessary arrangements for the safety of the holiday-makers. We have also requested the Army for securing the mountain peaks and all such peaks overlooking the district,” Mehta said.
He said the security agencies are working overtime to prevent any untoward incident in the district which witnessed several terror attacks on security forces in the past one-and-a-half years.
The SSP said the police had mapped all routes to ensure peaceful culmination of annual pilgrimage to high altitude destinations like Kailash Yatra, Manimahesh and Machail Yatra which are starting in the coming weeks.
“A total of 70 pilgrimages, big and small, take place in this district. Some start from here while some others culminate in this district after starting from somewhere else.
“We ensure adequate deployment on the route and entrust responsibility to senior officers to ensure the peaceful culmination of the yatra which mostly takes place in the higher reaches,” he said.
Mehta said complete care is being taken with deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other paramilitary forces all along the yatra routes, while the forces work in synergy and act immediately on getting any information about movement of suspected persons.
He said the police and other security agencies are fully capable of tackling the threat of drones by terrorists in the mountainous district.
“Drone activity (by terrorists and their handlers) has mostly been restricted on the borders. We have no reports of the use of drones by terrorists in the district but if they use it, we have an anti-drone system in place to successfully tackle the threat,” he said.
He appealed to people, especially those living in high-altitude areas, to report any  drone activity to security agencies so that appropriate action is taken. (Agencies)