Mysore/Mysuru: After arriving in Mysuru last evening, Tourism Minister H.K. Patil stayed overnight at the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel.

This morning, after visiting Chamundeshwari Temple atop the Chamundi Hill and Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) on Irwin Road, Patil held a closed-door meeting of tourism officials and the officers from the Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) at Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel. Some of the other high-ranking officers in Bengaluru were connected through video-conferencing facility. 

Present at the Mysuru meeting were Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Tourism, Kapil Mohan, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) Managing Director G. Jagadeesha, Tourism Director Dr. Ram Prasath Manohar and Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra. The minutes of the meeting were not available to the media.  

Patil later visited the Depart-ment of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage’s Treasury (strong room) inside the Mysore Palace that houses rare and exclusive historical and archaeological-value artefacts from Karnataka and the Department’s library. Here too, reporters were not allowed and there was opportunity only for photographers. 

The Minister was supposed to hold a media briefing at the office of the Palace Board at 1 pm. However, this got delayed due to certain unscheduled engagements. 

In the afternoon, he was scheduled to visit the residential complex of the Palace to meet the erstwhile member of the Mysore royal family Pramoda Devi Wadiyar. Later, Patil will proceed to Sri Ramakrishna Ashram at Yadavagiri. From there, he will return to Bengaluru by road.