By Rajkumar Mohanty
Puri (Orissa): Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday expressed grave concern over ill treatment and harassment of tourists by a section of hoteliers of this holy town last month.

Patnaik, who was here to take stock of the final preparations for the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, said he had asked State Director General of Police Amarananda Pattanayak to look into the matter.

A group of tourists met him at Bhubaneswar and complained about the uncivil treatment meted out to them by some hoteliers, the Chief Minister said.

While attending the meeting on Rath Yatra preparations, Patnaik expressed shock to learn that the OTDC installed beach lighting had failed and a major part of the beach remains in dark during night encouraging the anti-social activities.

Patnaik directed the concerned officials to take adequate steps for illumination of the beach all through the year to keep the anti-socials at bay.

Describing Puri as one of the best beaches of the country, Patnaik directed the administration to ensure the safety of tourists visiting the temple town.

To keep the beach pollution-free, Patnaik directed the Urban Development Department to effectuate the shifting of the drain that runs through the beach.

The Chief Minister was also critical over poor power supply to the city. He expressed displeasure over the casual reply of Energy Minister Surjya Narayan Patro while dealing with the complaint over poor power supply to the city.

The residents and local MP Brajakishore Tripathy pointed out that there was power failure during the Snan Purnima celebrations on Saturday for several hours despite assurances of the engineers of the Central Electricity Supply Company for uninterrupted power supply.

The CESU officials present at the meeting attributed the reason to sabotage. Patnaik asked the Energy Minister to ensure uninterrupted power supply and the police to take action against the miscreants.

Patnaik was informed that five special Police Control Room vans would be pressed into service to prevent crime in the city while additional forces would be deployed at various places to maintain law and orders during the annual Rath Yatra celebrations.

About 64 platoons of armed police six platoons of rapid action force would be deployed besides the regular policemen and the officers.

Puri Superintendent of Police Asit Kumar Panigrahi revealed that criminal activities along the beach area were on the rise. He urged the government to reorganise the beach police station limits as a major part of the extended beach comes with in the Sadar Police jurisdiction causing legal wrangles.

District Magistrate Rasmiranjan Pattnaik appraised Patnaik about the ongoing repair and reconstruction works besides water supply, health and sanitation.

Among other things the meeting discussed about supply of essentials commodities and steps needed to keep the spiraling vegetable prices under control during the car festival.

The meeting asked the district administration to prevent people entering into unsafe buildings identified by the engineers to avoid any mishap during the Yatra.

East Coast Railway would run about 40 special trains during the Rath Yatra and open 28 ticket booking counters to meet the pilgrim demand. The transport department would permit more passenger busses to ply to Puri during the fete.

Law Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan, Agriculture Minister Surendranath Nayak, Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal, Health Minister Duryodhan Majhi, Works Minister A.U. Singh Deo, Panchayatiraj Minister Raghunath Mohanty and Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mahanty also attended the meeting.