Shilparamam yet to become reality in Nellore district

Nellore: After a huge lull, proposal for construction of Shilparamam has come to fore again. The AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) is planning to construct Shilparamam in Nellore which has been pending for the last ten years. 

Officials say the state government is now planning to construct Shilparamams in all districts and they must finalise the site for the project in the district.

APTDC had planned to take up the Shilparamam project with Rs 4 crore in 2008-09 at Bujabuja Nellore located close to Nellore city. Officials have also identified more than 100 acres of land for developing water sports, boating, handicraft locations, food malls, function halls, resorts and restaurants for the same. Arrangements were also made for alienation of land from revenue to irrigation department to hand over the land to APTDC.

However, the project was inordinately delayed in 2009. Again in 2015, the TD government plans to construct Shilparamams at Vijayawada, Nellore and Anantapur and earmarked Rs 5 crore to each district for taking up the works from the sources of 13th Finance Commission. 

At the same time, works of Shilparamams at Tirupati, Kadapa, Puttaparthy and Vizag are in progress as the government released funds for the projects.

Yet again in 2018, the state government took a decision to start these delayed projects in all districts and Tourism Minister B Akhila Priya announced the government will construct Shilparamams in all districts. 

She said the government had entered a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute of Fashion Design and National Institute of Technology for constructing the project in Amaravati.

Even as many other districts are having projects where works are in progress, Nellore has simply been ignored. The state government asked the District Collector to scout for a suitable land for the project and now vacant lands close to the city are now in scarce where the district administration cannot allocate huge chunk of land. It was earlier in 2009 there were many vacant lands in the vicinity.

Following the directions of District Collector R Mutyala Raju, the officials are searching for land close to district headquarters for taking up the project. In fact, if the project comes up in the city, local population can make use of it so that the revenue of the APTDC can be improved.

Otherwise, similar to many other tourism projects in the district, the efforts of official would go waste and failed to generate income source at least for its maintenance.