West Godavari can be next major tourist spot

Eluru: Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Committee on Government Assurances chairman Pendurthi Venkatesh said that the district has the potential to become a major tourist hub with tourist attractions like Kolleru, Perupalem beach and Dwaraka Tirumala.

The committee conducted a review meet on various pending projects in the district at the Collectorate here on Friday. Addressing the officials, committee chairman Venkatesh said that the State government issued guidelines to develop tourism under public and private partnership (PPP) mode. He suggested to the officials to take steps to develop the district as a major tourist hub.

When the development of Perupalem beach issue was being discussed, Collector K Bhaskar said as promised, 100 acres of government land has not been allotted for the development of the beach.

He said as per the report of Mogalthur tahsildar, the district administration allotted only two acres of land for Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) to develop Perupalem beach. He said as soon as the works were taken up, some encroachers approached the court to vacate the stay on works.

He said special consultancies have been appointed to develop tourism in the district. A tourism resort has been set up at Pulapalli village near Palacole, he added. Later, the committee reviewed the strengthening works along river Godavari to prevent breaches during the monsoon season.

It also directed irrigation officials to complete the pending works. The committee also instructed officials to take steps to curb illegal sand mining near Godavari embankment.

ASP N Chandrasekhar, ZP chairman Mullapudi Bapiraju, committee members Bapatla MLA K Raghupati, Mandapeta MLA J Jogeswara Rao, Anakapalli MLA Peela Govinda Satyanarayana, DRO K Prabhakara Rao and Joint Collector P Koteswara Rao participated in the review meeting.