THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian was forced to postpone his travel to the UAE and Bahrain after the Union government denied permission for his overseas trip. Earlier, travel plans of the chief minister and tourism minister to attend the Abu Dhabi investors’ meet were shot down by the Centre.
Saji was scheduled to attend two programmes organised by the Malayalam Mission in the UAE on Friday. Though he had reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport to board the flight on Wednesday, he was forced to cancel the trip at the last moment as permission from the Centre was pending.
However, a source close to the minister’s office told TNIE that although the trip eventually got the Centre’s nod on Wednesday, he couldn’t get a flight suiting the schedule.