Nagaland gets tourist police for Hornbill Festival

Guwahati, November 26, 2018:

The Nagaland Tourist Police will be launched by the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today at the Nagaland Police Headquarters.

The special squad has been raised by the Nagaland police for the security purpose of the tourist during their stay in Nagaland for the Hornbill Festival. The police team will be one of the first in the region that will be dedicated for services to the tourist only.

The total strength of the police force is 73 personnel with 50 women personnel and 23 male personnel.

Apart from providing proper security to the tourists, the police team with also have enough knowledge of Naga Culture sot the they give the proper information to the tourists.

Over the years Nagaland has seen a massive increase in tourist footfalls and in this case the state police face a lot of difficulties in managing the crowd in the state. In order to keep a track on the tourist the tourist police has been introduced.

The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Nagaland and it is also known as the festival of festivals.

Nagaland is home to several tribes, which have their own distinct festivals. More than 60% of the population of Nagaland depends on agriculture and therefore most of their festivals revolve around agriculture. The Nagas consider their festivals sacred, so participation in these festivals is essential.

To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December. The first festival was held in 2000.

The festival is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.

It may be mentioned that the state police apart from deploying the tourist police, have also acquired several vehicles, bikes and also ambulance to ensure that tourists who get lost can safely be dropped to their stays during for emergencies.