H.K. Kumaraswamy, Sakleshpur MLA, who returned to Hassan after a foreign trip, defended the legislators’ tour and said that they had not received any official communication from Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to cut short the visit and return immediately. “The visit was educative and inspiring”, he told The Hindu on Tuesday. As a member of the House Committee on Public Undertakings, Mr. Kumaraswamy and several other legislators, had undertaken 15-day tourBrazil, Peru and Argentina from August 30. “ The Chief Minister should have instructed the committee not to leave. We would have obeyed his instruction.”
Mr. Kumaraswamy had told the media that he would study advanced form of coffee cultivation in Brazil. On his return, when asked what he had studied, the MLA said, “Visit to coffee plantations was not part of the tour plan. Moreover coffee estates were far off from the places we visited”, he said.
However, the MLA said his visit had inspired him to propose new projects to tap tourism potential of the State. “Compared to Peru, Brazil and Argentina, I feel we have done little to promote tourism destinations.”He said he would propose development of Manjarabad fort in Sakleshpur and urge the government to promote tourism in the Western Ghats. “The problem in India is that every historically important structure is brought under the Archaeological Survey of India, which hardly concentrates on tourism development.”
H.S Prakash, Hassan MLA, said he will share his experience with the media shortly. Asked what he had to convey to his voters, he said, “These days many people go abroad. There is nothing strange or special that I can share with my voters.”
