Vontimitta shrine to be developed under temple tourism scheme
Durgesh said the state government would run special buses through the religious tourism circuit covering several temples through a tourism package so that the devotees could make visits for two to three days
Vijayawada: Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh has vowed to bring the famous temple of Vontimitta Ramalayam in Kadapa district under the ambit of temple tourism and develop a religious tourism circuit covering several temples in the region.
Durgesh was replying to questions from MV Ramachandra Reddy in the state legislative council on Tuesday. He said the government was planning to focus on Vontimitta Ramalayam and added that the government would arrange boating in the Vontimitta Tank.
He listed out the temples that were to be developed as part of the religious tourism circuit. These include the Devuni
Kadapa Lakshmi Venkateswara Swamy temple, Pushpagiri Chennakesava Swamy temple, Brahmamgari Matam, Vontimitta Kodanda Ramalayam temple, Gandi Sri Veeranjaneya Swamy temple, Yaganti Uma Maheswara temple-Nandavaram, Sri Nandavaram Chowdeshwari Matha temple-Mahanandi and Mahanandeshwara Swamy temple.
The minister said the Vontimitta Seetarama Swamy temple functioned under the purview of TTD and added that as part of the new policy, several circuits like eco-tourism, adventure tourism and wellness tourism would be developed.
Durgesh said the state government would run special buses through the religious tourism circuit covering several temples through a tourism package so that the devotees could make visits for two to three days. He felt the need to develop tourist resorts and arrange other basic amenities for the devotees.
The minister criticised the previous government, saying it ignored the Haritha Resorts located near the Vontimitta temple. He underlined the need to renovate the rooms for the devotees and said that the government was planning to initiate multiple-language activity through the QR code system, to enable the visiting devotees to know the significance of languages like Telugu, English, Hindi and Tamil.
Under the Prasad scheme, several temples could be developed in the state, the minister said and
recalled his recent meeting with the Union tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi. Several proposals on tourisms in AP were discussed and the Union minister promised full support to take matters forward, he said.