THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government’s denial of permission to State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran to travel to China to attend a meeting convened by a UN agency, has snowballed into a political controversy. Kadakampally was slated to attend the 22nd session of the General Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) from September 11 to 16. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary in the Union Department of Tourism and R K Suman, Assistant Director, India Tourism, were the others from India who were slated to attend the meeting.
A visibly upset Kadakampally told reporters the Centre’s decision was an insult to the state and its people. He said he would take up the matter with the Prime Minister. “No reason was cited for the denial of permission to the state to attend the international t o u r i s m m e e t i n g , ” s a i d Kadakampally. “The Centre’s action has revealed its political partiality towards the state. It has also exposed the BJP Government’s narrow-minded approach.”
UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifaii had invited the minister through a formal letter on June 30 to attend the deliberations at its General Assembly. Sources said the application of the minister, as a member of the Indian delegation, was given more than a month ago. Even after repeated efforts by the state government representatives in New Dehi to contact the Ministry of External Affairs, no reason was given for the denial of permission, they said. The Centre’s denial of diplomatic visa to Minority Welfare Minister K T Jaleel and former minister K C Joseph too had triggered controversies.
‘Not commensurate’
New Delhi: The Central Government said it turned down the proposal because the level of the visit was not ‘commensurate’ with the level of a minister rank. “The visit was not found to be commensurate with the status of a minister level. The meet was to be attended by a junior-level officer of the bureaucracy. There’s no need for a minister to attend such a meet,”said a source
Reconsider the decision: CM
T’Puram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the
decision. “It’s unfortunate that a State delegation headed by the Tourism Minister has been denied the
opportunity to participate in an international forum,” said Pinaryi.