As Anand Singh lobbies for portfolio change, tourism stakeholders launch anti- campaign

2 min read

4 years ago News Desk

Mysuru: As Tourism Minister Anand Singh remains sulking openly lobbying for a change in portfolio, a section of stakeholders in tourism industry in the city have launched a campaign against the minister.

With a stern message- “We don’t want Anand Singh as Karnataka Tourism Minister” B S Prashanth director of Karnataka Tourism Society has launched a campaign.

“Tourism department needs a visionary minister. As Anand Singh has denied to handle the ministry, we will boycott if he conducts any meetings,” said Prashanth mincing no words.

Prashanth told Mysoorunews.com “Karnataka has a better chance to elevate tourism sector further, while it lacks visionary ministers.”

Tourism sector in Karnataka saw a landslide loss of around Rs 2,000 crore due to Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions. Hoteliers who were largely dependent on tourism sector and others suffered a lot. Around 30 per cent of cab drivers are unable to pay the insurance premium and Rs 3,000 financial assistance announced by the state government is still eluding most of them, he said.

Tourism sector is going through a tough phase, but Anand Singh is reluctant still, regretted Prashanth.

Covid situation in Kerala that is very much alarming has really hit Mysuru tourism very hard. Government should take necessary actions to screen the travellers instead of closing the borders. Mysuru shouldn’t be compared with Mangaluru. While Mysuru is 90 km away from Kerala, Mangaluru is located at the distance of 20 km from Kerala border. Mysuru sees 35 per cent of tourist footfalls from Kerala alone, which has stopped for now, he said.

Weekend Curfew rule has made it further hard, as Mysuru sees brisk business on last three days of week- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Before chalking out any norms, government should consider tourism or economic experts also, besides looking at health experts only.

We are waiting for the chief minister’s next move. If it not favourable we are ready to launch aggressive agitation, warned Prashanth.

– Team Mysoorunews