Foreigners can file complainant in own lingo

With crime against foreign nationals and tourists on the rise in Uttar Pradesh, the Akhilesh government has decided to allow foreign complainants to report their complaints in their respective foreign languages.

The government has initiated the process of hiring foreign language experts to receive complaints from foreign complainants at the control room and then translate them into Hindi or English.

The initiative is expected to cost Rs 2,300 crore and will be operational by October this year.

Talking to this correspondent, a senior police official said that a large number of foreign tourists and students had problems in lodging their complaints with the police due to linguistic barriers.

“As a result, minor complaints of eve-teasing, harassment, theft and even stalking go unreported because our cops are not conversant even with English, leave alone foreign languages. With the new system in place, the foreign complainants can give their complaints in their mother tongue and our experts will translate the same. If there is any need for further communication, we can communicate with them in their own language,” the official said.

The state government is also planning to hire 750 women who can understand some foreign languages.

The state wide dial-100 facility will handle emergency calls related to criminal offences, fire incidents, traffic woes and road accidents across 75 districts from a single centre in Lucknow. ADG Anil Agarwal, who is overlooking the projects, said that the tender inviting application for these posts clearly states that “the call-taking staff should be a mix of communication officers who understand major languages used by foreigners visiting UP”. “A lot of Buddhist followers visit eastern UP and so we decided to keep Thai language as a mandatory requirement”, he said. A team of IPS officials is also working on the project was also identifying professors and PhD scholars from linguistic departments of central universities. Their cell phone numbers will be kept handy and a conference call would be arranged to tackle distress calls of individuals who want to raise a complaint in less popular foreign languages. UP attracts about 30 lakh foreign tourists annually and after Delhi and Goa, foreigners were most vulnerable in UP, according to NCRB’s 2014 report. Option to forward complaint via email, WhatsApp, social media platforms, VoIP and web chat will be also provided.