Foreign tourists may shun state

BHUBANESWAR: Choosing to abduct two foreign nationals, the Left-wing extremists may have dealt a body blow to Odisha’s limping tourism sector which never could match states like Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan. While restriction on tribal tourism over “human safari” had created enough confusion in the minds of foreign tourists, the abduction of the Italians is all set to drive them away from the State. Given the manner in which a powerful block such as European Union (EU) reacts, an advisory to their travellers is not too far away. In 2010, over 50,000 foreign tourists had arrived in the State, registering a 10 per cent increase over the previous year. However, tourism industry captains are apprehensive that the Maoist abduction could pour cold water on all the brand-building and campaigns that had been done to spur the sector. Considering that it is for the first time that the Maoists have targeted foreigners - in Chhattisgarh, the extremists had only threatened Chinese nationals engaged with an industry - experts say the move was strategic to draw eyeballs of international community and get the Odisha Government to the negotiation table one more time. Last year on February 16, the then Malkangiri Collector R Vineel Krishna was abducted by armed Maoists bringing the State Government to the negotiate table. It was only after the State Government signed an agreement with the CPI (Maoist) that Krishna was released. That the agreement was never honoured by the Odisha Government is another thing but the Maoists have clearly noticed the weakness. “Once the Government set a precedent, such an incident was bound to follow. The ultras wanted a bigger catch, something which would draw attention of the international community,” said a police officer, on condition of anonymity. Did the unit, commanded by Sabyasachi Panda, secretary of Odisha State Organisational Committee, have clearance of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) to abduct foreign nationals? Sources said, the reason why they abducted the four on March 14 but announced it on Saturday night was because they needed time to proceed to a secure location and seek clearance of the Central Committee.