Take cognisance of coronavirus effects on tourism, aviation sectors: TMC to Par panel

The parliamentary committee on Transport, Aviation and Tourism has accepted TMC MP Derek O' Brien's suggestion to take cognisance of the effects of coranavirus and has called a meeting of the concerned ministries on Wednesday, party sources said.

The committee will convene a special meeting on Wednesday with the tourism and civil aviation ministries, seeking an update on the precautions taken by them in view of the infection that has led to three deaths in India so far, they said.

In a letter to committee chairperson T G Venkatesh, O'Brien said the aviation and tourism sectors will be directly affected by the spread of the coronavirus.

"I request the chairman to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and call two meetings with the secretary ministry of civil aviation and secretary ministry of tourism respectively. This would enable the committee to understand the situation and the level of preparedness. The committee may then proceed to make recommendations, if the need arises," O' Brien said in his letter.