The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Cultural hubs to woo tourists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Cultural hubs to woo tourists

Staff Reporter

Machilipatnam will have the new structure

Five districts will get mini auditoriums
Each auditorium will be built with 2 cr.

MACHILIPATNAM: The Government has decided to take up construction of a mini Ravindra Bharathi (a cultural auditorium) in every district headquarter in the State, and Machilipatnam, the Krishna district headquarters, would get the new structure in the second phase of the programme. Five districts would get the auditoriums in the first phase.

Announcing this at a meeting to review the development of tourism projects in Krishna district on Tuesday, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Minister for Information & Public Relations, Cinematography, Tourism and Culture, said that each auditorium would be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 2 crores.

Vast scope

He said there were many places across Krishna district with tourism potential. The Manginapudi beach in Machilipatnam was one such place, which offered a vast scope for development. An official consultant would be appointed to explore all possibilities of further grooming the spot and based on the report, to be submitted in a span of three months, the Tourism Department would chalk out an action plan for its development.

The Minister said any further delay on the part of the private party that had agreed to construct beach resorts at Manginapudi would prompt the Government to cancel the contract and invite a new company to take over the job. Mr. Ramanarayana Reddy said unlike in the past when the tourism sector was completely neglected, the present government was keen on developing it in a big way.

He said there were several historic places in Machilipatnam and Avanigadda regions. Places like Manginapudi beach, Hamsaladeevi, Kuchipudi, Bandar Kota, Puligadda Aqueduct, Saint Mary’s Church in Bandar and the Dutch cemetery offered vast scope for exploration from tourism point of view.

Neglected

Local MLA Perni Venkatramaiah said Machilipatnam had been subjected to a ‘prolonged state of neglect’ despite being the district headquarters of a prosperous district like Krishna. But under the Rajasekhara Reddy Government, a series of developmental projects had been taken up, such as the Bandar port, the Machilipatnam-Vijayawada four-lane road, a sports complex, a stadium and installation of musical fountains in parks.

Referring to the 200-year-old church, the MLA suggested that the department host a carnival to make known the glorious history of the ancient structure.

The Minister visited the historic fort, the ancient church, the Dutch cemetery and other places of tourist potential along with district Collector Navin Mittal, Revenue Divisional Officer T. Appa Rao, District Tourism Officer Madhusudan Rao and others, and found out from them the significance of each place.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh