Kishan Reddy assures major push to tourism

HYDERABAD:  On the last day of his Jan Ashirvad Yatra, Union minister for tourism and culture G Kishan Reddy becamse emotional at Amberpet, which he had represented in the Legislative Assembly.

He said, “I am feeling the way a child feels after meeting his mother after several days, on entering Amberpet, the launchpad of my political career”.

He promised to work for the betterment of people from Amberpet and Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.  

He recalled that as a legislator, he roamed the streets of Amberpet to attend to local issues. However, he did not have enough time for that now as in his new responsibility he was reviewing development programmes, and attending to work across the nation.

Reddy said the Centre had effectively tackled coronavirus and 57 crore people across the country have been provided free vaccines.

Understanding the importance of maintaining the Covid protocol, he said that although he had visited Gandhi Hospital ventilator ward nine times, he was not infected because he wore the mask and followed all precautions diligently.  

Reddy said that he had worked to bring global recognition to Ramappa temple in Warangal for quite some time, but could not achieve it. “After getting the tourism and culture ministry, I took up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and succeeded in getting Unesco recognition,” he said, adding that Golconda fort would be developed extensively.  

Earlier, in the morning he visited Yadadri temple and offered special prayers to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. The temple priests gave him Veda Ashirvachanam. Later, he inspected construction work at the temple and enquired about its progress with architect Anand Sai.

Speaking on the occasion, Kishan Reddy said that there was a need to develop the tourism sector in the country. He said almost all tourist spots in the country would be opened for the people in January.

He said efforts were on to get national festival recognition for Bonalu and Sammakka Saralamma jatara.  He said that Bhadrachalam and Vemulawada temples should be developed by the state government as it was a state subject. He criticized earlier governments for neglecting temples and historical monuments.

At Bhongir, he stated that the TRS government will be in power only for two more years. He alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had sent crores of rupees in suitcases to Huzurabad to buy votes and leaders. He said all these efforts would fail as eventually dharma will prevail and BJP would win.

The Minister rode a bike with tribal women activists in Bhongir and visited a ration shop to enquire about the process of getting free rice provided by the Union Government.

The yatra traversed through Ghatkesar, Uppal, Ramanthapur, Amberpet, Chikkadpally, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Ameerpet, Yousufguda, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Masab Tank, Vijay nagar Colony, and Goshamahal before touching the party’s state headquarters in Nampally.

The yatra started at Kodad on August 19 and covered eight Parliament and 17 Assembly constituencies spread over 305 kilometres.