Muktyala, Krishna district: The centuries old Muktyala Fort will be opened to the public soon as a museum. The fort has more than two centuries of history and still remains an iconic structure on the banks of Krishna River.
Muktyala Raja's descendents have been renovating the fort to make it available for public visit in order to showcase the history and glory of their past, according to sources. Though the king’s descendents did not confirm turning the fort into a museum, villagers said that the fort would be open to the public soon.
The renovation work will be completed before the Krishna Pushkaralu. The descendents have been considering putting the utensils and weapons used by the then kings of the dynasty, in the public domain.
Raja Vasireddy Rama Gopal Krishna Maheswa-ra Prasad known as V.R.G.K.M. Prasad was the last king of the dynasty. He was also an elected representative of the Assembly, from Jaggaiapet constituency and played a key role in building of Nagarjuna-sagar Dam, the tallest masonry in the world.
The fort was constructed on the banks of River Krishna where it takes a turn towards the north. The particular part of the river is popularly known as Uttaravahini in Telugu. The fort is located at Muktyala village in Jaggaiahpet mandal in Krishna district.
The village is roughly 10 kms from the mandal headquarter with a well connected road network. The descendents have been renovating the existing buildings in the Muktyala Fort.
The dynasty was established by V. Chandramouli with 23 villages, acc-ording to a book namely “Sri Bhavani Mukteswara Kshetra Mahatyamu”, published by the Bhavani Mukteswara Temple.
Muktyala village to be a tourism hub
After opening the Muk-tyala fort to the public, the village would become a tourism hub. Already, tourists have been visiting religious and tourist places like historical Sri Bhavani
Mukteswara temple at Muktyala village, Koti Linga Harihara Mahaks-hetram at Kotilingala near Muktyala, Pancha Narasimha temple at Vedadri, Krishna river boating from Muktyala to Vedadri and others near the village. The other religious places here include Bharadwaja hill located on the banks of the river Krishna. A Siva temple is also located in the river Krishna at the village.
The pilgrims also visit the famous Chenna-kesava temple in the village. The Muktyala Raja’s family constructed a park opposite the Sri Bhavani Mukteswara temple. The government is planning to construct another park on the banks of the river Krishna at Uttaravahini.
Lack of transport a major setback
Insufficient transportation facilities are a major setback in exploring the optimum tour-ism potential at Mukt-yala village and its surroundings. The visitors observed that they could not cover all the religious and tourism places without own vehicle in a short span of time. They stated that the government should make better tourism promotion plans by the time of Krishna Pushkaralu.
In fact, the state government is going to start the Pushkaralu related works on the banks of the River Krishna within months. The officials were asked to deliver the ground reports including the estimated footfall at the Muktyala based on the previous Pushkaralu. There is a bus facility by the APSRTC, but the devotees and the tourists observed that the frequency of the services were not sufficient.
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