MYSURU: The Mysuru heli tourism project turned into a BJP vs BJP slugfest as MP Pratap Simha launched a no-holds-barred attack on his party colleague and tourism minister C P Yogeshwar, saying it will not be allowed at the Lalit Mahal palace premises. He accused the tourism department of coming up with hollow announcements for the sake of publicity, while questioning the intention of the project.
The statement has come at a time when voices have been growing against the felling of trees to construct the heliport for heli tourism linking five destinations across the state, a pet project of tourism minister Yogeshwar. The move had attracted much criticism from greens and triggered online campaigns running with hashtags #savemysuru.
Visiting the spot on Monday, Simha said that from the Disneyland model theme park at KRS, it has become routine for tourism ministers to announce projects without proper planning. "They host meetings and announce projects to garner attention without any solid plan and when a new minister comes this process is repeated. This will not work, there is no proper planning in the tourism department, crores of central funds for projects like the ones in coastal areas and PRASAD scheme are lying idle unspent," he said.
During the visit, he directed forest department officials not to give the permit for felling the trees. He said it is not a real estate project for the tourism department to announce and demanded that it should be decided by the minister in charge of the district and not single-handedly by the tourism minister.
He reiterated that the project lacks vision and is not feasible since people will not come in a chopper to visit Mysuru or proceed to destinations like Karwar, adding that the ten-lane highway will also be ready in a year and a half.
Simha further said the department should instead approach the erstwhile royal family to lease out the existing heli pad which was recently taken possession by them after a favourable court order. "Otherwise we are ready to give them land in the airport, let them use it," he said.