Bengal minister visits Srinagar

The West Bengal government will not issue a travel advisory dissuading people of the state from visiting Kashmir, the state's tourism minister has said.

Tourism Minister Manab Mukherjee flew in to Srinagar on Wednesday along with a team of senior officials of the West Bengal government to take stock of the situation and security arrangements made for the tourists.

"Issuance of an adverse travel advisory would mean playing into the hands of militants," he told rediff.com after his arrival. "We should not do anything that would further the militants agenda."

Mukherjee visited the SMHS hospital to enquire after the health of the lone Bengali tourist who could not be airlifted to Calcutta owing to his grievous wounds.

The tourist, identified as Ashish Ghosh Roy, passed away later in the day.

Mukherjee also visited various hotels near Dalgate, which are favourites of Bengali tourists to have a personal feel of the facilities and the security.

He admitted that 'he could feel the unease among the Bengali tourists whom he met in hotels here'.

He later had a detailed meeting with the deputy chief minister and senior officers of the state tourism department.