The Darjeeling police football tournament under its brand Khel Utsav has attracted a staggering 221 teams from 11 police stations this time.

These many teams participating in a single tournament in the region is unheard of .

“We had formally launched the football tournament under Khel Utsav initiative on December 21 and provided a five-day window period for registration of teams. We had 221 teams registering for the tournament,” said Abhishek Gupta, additional superintendent of police in Darjeeling.

The tournament — now underway — was launched by Darjeeling superintendent of police Santosh Nimbalkar in the presence of Nadong Bhutia, a Kalimpong boy who is currently a striker with Real Kashmir FC in the I-League and Everester Jamling Tenzing Norgay Sherpa.

The tournament is being held for both men and women.

Apart from 186 men’s teams, 25 women teams are also competing in the tournament.

The tourney which carries a winners’ award of Rs 1 lakh and a runners-up award of Rs 50,000 each in both the men’s and women’s categories.

Give the sheer number of participating teams, the tournament is first being played at the police station level.

Rangli-Rungeet police station has to cope with 42 teams, which includes four women teams.

“The best teams from each of the police stations will match their skills in a knockout competition in Darjeeling and the finals will be held on January 19 in the hill town,” said Gupta.

Darjeeling police have made a mark in organising professional tournaments, including the Darjeeling Hill Marathon which attracts international runners.

“It is probably because of the professionalism seen in organising various sports events that our tournaments are attracting such a large number of participants,” said Gupta.

“Our aim is channelise youth energy in the right direction and what better than sporting events,” added the additional SP.

Under the Khel Utsav initiative, Darjeeling Police has set its goal in organising a volleyball tournament next.

Over the past 11 days, Kalimpong police has also managed to reach out to the public through its centenary celebrations of the setting up of the Kalimpong police station.

Through the week, Kalimpong police organised various events for the community such as sit-and-draw contest, blood donation camp, interactive sessions with the general public and cultural and musical events.

Harikrishna Pai, the Kalimpong SP, said: “Apart from traversing the rich history of the place, we wanted to connect with former police personnel and importantly with the general public through our celebrations.”

The celebration kicked off from December 21 and concluded on Wednesday with a glittering ceremony at Kalimpong Town Hall.

Kalimpong police station — set up in 1920 in the colonial era — always had an important role to play, being the last frontier station for Tibet and Bhutan.

The police chief from Kalimpong said that during the interactive sessions many ideas came from the public. “We are looking at making Kalimpong police station friendlier with an emphasis on the differently abled,” said Pai, who said that this was one of the ideas had came during the interactive session.