A serious punishment is what they deserve...

Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi on Tuesday ordered suspension of the three-star rating of Hotel Agra Mahal while taking serious note of the attempt to sexual assault of a foreign tourist in Agra, where the incident took place.

Moreover, the Tourism Ministry also issued a show cause notice to the hotel asking it why its licence should not be cancelled.

Mr. Chiranjeevi while expressing concern over the incident involving a British woman, took up the matter with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and sought a proper system to ensure safety of tourists in the country.

It was not enough to drown us in shame...

Pretty shockingly quiet next to the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh, that a 25-year-old British woman on Tuesday jumped off a hotel room in Agra to save herself from an alleged sexual assault bid and suffered a leg fracture.

While speaking to Shinde, Mr. Chiranjeevi requested for putting in place a proper system which would ensure the safety and security of all tourists especially women and children across the country.

Fearing about the fact of having an adverse impact on the tourist flow into the country due to such incidents, Chiranjeevi started an exercise of contacting all chief ministers urging them to institute an adequate mechanism for safety of tourists in their respective states. It is indeed high time that the Tourism Ministry should take a spontaneous measure to strongly rule out the fear factor for women tourists while they alone or with their family.

This fear factor could be the chronic reason for disastrous decline in the Tourism industry as it is genuinely going to hamper the mindset of the tourists in regard to their security factor, especially women!

What a shame once again!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)