Vijayawada: Bhavani Island to be turned as tourist hub

Vijayawada: Minister for Tourism and Culture Avanti Srinivas stated that the government will give top priority to promote tourism in the State and as part of it, Bhavani island located in Krishna river near Vijayawada will be developed as a prominent tourist centre in the capital region of Amaravati.

He said Bhavani island is a natural island and there is plenty of scope for its development. He replied to a question asked by the members in the Legislative Council on Monday. TDP member A S Ramakrishna has asked whether there is any proposal with the government to develop naturally formed Bhavani island as tourist centre and the steps being taken up by the government to attract more tourists to the island.

Replying to the question, Avanti Srinivas said mini fish aquarium will be set up and water sports will be promoted at the island to attract more tourists. Proposal is under consideration for the ropeway connecting Tadepalli to Bhavani island, he said.

Srinivas further said that not only Bhavani island, but Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam district will also be developed with Rs.5 crore. He said Andhra Pradesh has the second largest seacoast in the country after Gujarat and assured the House that tourism will be developed in the state.

Member A S Ramakrishna said Dubai is developed as mega international tourist place with creation of artificial island and suggested to the state government that it should take initiative to develop tourism in the State.

TDP member Y V Rajendra Prasad has asked whether there is any plan to demolish cottages and park built in Krishna river bed in Vijayawada because these structures were built against the norms of the river conservation rules. He further said that the government had demolished Praja Vedika citing that it was built against the rules of river conservation and asked whether the same rule would be applied to the structures in Vijayawada also.

Replying to it, the Minister said the TDP will not get political mileage by raising Praja Vedika issue. He asked the TDP members not to politicise the plans for the development of Bhavani island.

BJP member Somu Veerraju has asked the government to furnish the details of the expenditure spent by the previous TDP government for conducting tourism festivals in the State. He alleged crores of rupees were spent for conducting the festivals, but infrastructure facilities were not developed in the state to promote tourism. Responding to it, the Minister said both infrastructure development and marketing are very important to promote tourism and informed the House that all types of tourism including temple, river tourism will be developed to attract more tourists to the State.

Chairman of the Legislative Council Md Sharif said that he was impressed with the beauty and creative work in Bhavani island when he recently visited with his family and suggested the Minister to visit the Bhavani island with all MLCs so that they can get better ideas how to develop it as a mega tourist centre.