Tourism: Borra Caves, Lambasingi To Get Facelift

The central government’s Swadesh Darshan is a holistic mission to develop sustainable and responsible tourism destinations.

ASR district collector Dinesh Kumar told Deccan Chronicle on Monday that under Swadeshi Darshan, an amount of ₹29 crore has been sanctioned for development of Borra Caves.

With this, a light and sound system, railings, huge parking space, a souvenir hall and other infrastructure would be added to create more space for the visitors.

Bora Caves is the most-visited tourism spot in north Andhra, with the footfall crossing 10,000 per day during the peak season.

This apart, a viewing deck would be built at Lambasingi so that more people can have a view of the clouds and enjoy the scenic beauty. A new road would be laid from the main road to the deck for pedestrians only. Sanction of ₹9 crore has been made for the hill resort development.

The ASR district administration is proposing to establish home stay units in a big way. Considered to be a low-cost alternative to hotel accommodations. This also enables tourists to taste local cuisines.

The collector said that initially 300 units would be made operational under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan and using state housing funds too. These would likely come up in Maredumilli, Lambasingi and Araku Valley.

“In one or two years, thousands of home stay units will come up all over the agency,’’ the collector said, adding that the new concept would boost tourism and create additional income to the tribal families.

Each unit would have two rooms with double occupation. An amount of ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 would be charged per day for each unit.

The house-owners who form part of the scheme would be given training in hospitality management and cooking.

The district administration would provide the participating homes with loans under various schemes for purchase of refrigerators, ACs and geysers.

“Each unit will cost ₹3 lakh and it can be further developed based on the income of the unit. The first phase of the 300 units would start operation from October this year -- the start of the annual tourist season, the collector said.