Govts Failed To Develop Rachakonda Fort As Tourist Spot
The Rachakonda Fort was constructed by Recherla Anapotanayaka around 1360 CE— DC File
NALGONDA: Rachakonda Fort, which is a 90-minute drive from Hyderabad, was one of the best destinations for adventure tourism that created interest among people with its rocky hills and tales of curses for its abandonment. However, it failed to realise its potential because of the negligence shown by successive governments.
Rachakonda Fort was built on a hillock. It is currently located at Rachakonda Thanda in Sansthan Narayanpur mandal in Yadadri-Bhongir district, which is 60 kilometres from Hyderabad. The trail of trekking at Rachakonda is about four kilometres long and would take two to three hours to complete passes through rocky terrain and steep slopes.
The ancient arches set up at the fort highlight the use of monolith pillars, beams and lintels and its walls are quite typical with stone cuts and diversified and laid on the side facing the outside with mudslopes on the interior.
The Rachakonda Fort was constructed by Recherla Anapotanayaka around 1360 CE, but he abandoned it in 1430 CE due to historic reasons. The stories circulated among the local people for the present bad status of the fort would also appeal to the people, who like horror thrillers. One of the stories attribute the present state of the fort to the curse of a woman, who was killed by the kings in the area. Another story says the king of Rachakonda spilled the food mixed with the blood of enemy soldiers (Rakthapu Koodu) in the area after winning the war.
While these stories may create interest among people to visit it, they will be put off by the lack of minimum facilities at the site, which falls under the reserve forest. Though several governments have promised to develop Rachakonda Fort into a tourism place and film-making hub, nobody acted on the matter.
Chikkula Yadagiri, a member of Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam (KTCB), a prominent volunteer team of amateur archaeologists, historians, and heritage enthusiasts, said the Rachakonda area falls in a reserve forest. Hence, the adventure tours operators can’t conduct trekking trips and camps without permission from the forest department. The tourism and forest departments should jointly launch the trekking and camping packages.
