Hyderabad: With the aim to make its capital city Amaravati, an international tourist destination, Andhra Pradesh is weighing the pros and cons of setting up a 'Monastery Boulevard', where Buddhist monasteries can be built.
“The state government is mulling to set up up a 'Monastery Boulevard' in the capital region where Buddhists from countries across the world can build their monasteries similar to Bodh Gaya in Bihar,” a state government release said.
In a meeting held on tourism by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu with senior officials, Naidu was told that 13 heritage tourism spots were identified to enhance as tourist destinations. As a part, the Kakinada-Hope Island-Coringa Sanctuary-Konaseema would be developed as a tourist circuit. The focus of this circuit would be the Godavari backwaters, house boats, mangrove forest, beaches and local cuisine, arts and culture in the East and West Godavari districts.
Also, the 2,000 hectare mangrove forest of Coringa, the only one on the East Coast, second largest in India after the Sunderbans, will be developed into an eco-sanctuary zone, as per the release. To give a major boost to tourism in Godavari districts, the government is working on the 'Akhanda Godavari' project. “From Godavari's scenic beauty to food and locally-made products like Ratnam Pens, everything has to be branded and promoted,” Naidu said, suggesting that Rajahmundry could become the hub of activity of both the districts.
During the meeting, the chief minister also suggested officials to work on a plan to set up resorts and entertainment areas that are not vulnerable to natural disasters. “Tourists' safety is of utmost priority to us. For this, we need to install every cab with a GPS tracker. We should have information about every tourist. To ferry passengers in cabs, we can talk to cab companies and make it mandatory to install GPS trackers,” he said.
