The Union tourism ministry has asked the UP administration to ensure that the foreign tourists, affected in any way in the blast at Dashashwamedh ghat in Varanasi on December 7, were extended every possible help so that they do not leave the country with a bad impression. According to sources, in a letter written to Mr Atul Kumar Gupta, the chief secretary of the UP administration, tourism secretary R.H. Khwaja has expressed concern over the incident and also asked the state government to take immediate measures for strengthening of security in all major tourist destinations within the state. While offering the ministry’s assistance at any level, Mr Khwaja has also said in the letter that incident was a matter for concern as it adversely affected tourist inflows.
***
Moily for laws to take over terror probes
New Delhi, Dec. 9: Law minister M. Veerappa Moily on Thursday favoured evolution of laws by which the Centre can directly take over investigations of terrorist attacks across the country.
“Yes yes... There is a limitation as law and order is a state subject. We need to evolve ourselves to meet these kind of challenges. We need to evolve such systems and also the laws to meet such challenges,” he said here on the sidelines of a seminar here on “Human Rights of Victim of Terror Attacks”.
The minister was asked if there was a need to evolve laws which would help the Centre to directly take over the charge of probing terror attacks such as the recent one in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Moily said he had dealt with the issue in his two reports on combating terrorism and conflict resolution as part of the second administrative reforms committee report. —PTI