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Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji
The Goa government on Thursday sounded a state wide alert directing the police to crackdown on suspicious persons staying for over a fortnight, as a security precaution.
"People need not panic, but it is for everybody's safety and they are requested to cooperate," Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
The alert follows the Bali blast in Indonesia that killed 181 people, coupled with the sudden rise in thefts and dacoities in this tiny coastal state.
The district magistrates have been directed to issue a declaration requesting outsiders to report their identity and whereabouts to the nearest police station.
The decision to sound the alert was taken at a law and order meeting called by the chief secretary last week. The legislators the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition also expressed concern in this regard at a meeting in Panjim on Thursday.
"We cannot help but to make it mandatory even for the hoteliers to inform the police about the tourists -- Indian or foreign -- who come to stay for over a fortnight," Karnal Singh, the deputy inspector general of police, said.
The disclosure of information is not mandatory for those who are staying with a Goan friend or relative, but for those staying on rental basis for a long time and with no specific purpose, the chief minister said.
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