TDP neglected Bhavani island development: Avanti Srinivas

Vijayawada: Stating that there is a good scope for the development of Bhavani island in Krishna river, Tourism Minister Avanti Srinivas on Sunday said the island would be developed as an important tourist destination in the capital region in a year.

Avanti Srinivas visited the Bhavani island along with the tourism department officials and inspected the gaming zone, plants, cottages, restaurants and other recreational facilities in the island. He spoke to the tourism department officials and discussed about the prospects for the development of island.

Speaking to media, the minister said there was a plenty of scope for the development of Bhavani island. Coming down heavily on the previous government for neglecting the development of island, he said now, the tourism department would take over the responsibility for its development.

Reiterating that many small countries like Maldives, Singapore and Thailand were mainly depending on the tourism industry for generating revenue, he pointed out that there was a wide scope for the development of tourism in the State.

As part of improving greenery in the island, he said more plants would be planted and security would be increased in island to ensure protection to visitors. He said sub-inspector level official would be posted in the island to supervise the security arrangements.

"Visitors mainly expect good security in the tourist places and the tourism department would take all required measures in this regard," he added. He further said water sports would be developed and proposals would be made for construction of a convention centre to host conferences in the island. He said corporate companies may host meetings in the convention centre in the Bhavani island.

He said the government sanctioned Rs 33 crore to the Bhavani Island Development Corporation in the last financial year but it had spent only Rs 7 crore for its development. He said the remaining Rs 26 crore would be spent for the development of island.

He said Vizag has been developed as tourist centre based on beach tourism and Tirupati was developed because of spiritual tourism. He said Andhra Pradesh have many resources to develop river-based tourism, sea tourism, mountain tourism like in Araku valley.

"The State government would explore all options to conduct one mega event every month to promote tourism in the State," he said. He further said initially the state would try to attract the domestic tourists and later plans would be made to attract international tourists.

He said facilities like 'Visa on arrival' should be implemented for the convenience of foreign tourists. He also felt the need for development of five air ports and five sea ports in the State.

Endowment Minister Velampalli Srinivas said the island was formed naturally and felt that it would be developed as an important tourist centre in the State. Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu and Pedana MLA Jogi Ramesh also spoke on the occasion.