Hop on to chopper for quick darshan at Vemulawada

Hyderabad: As Telangana State is gripped in Mahasivaratri fervour and all Shiva temples decked up for the mega event on Friday, the Tourism Department has come up with a new initiative of providing chopper services to visit the famous Raja Rajeshwara temple in Vemulwada. Devotees can now have darshan and return within no time.

Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud along with Vemulawada MLA Ch Ramesh flagged off a chopper from Begumpet on Thursday. Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple in Vemulawada is one of the prominent Shiva temples in Telangana and it is also known as 'Dakshina Kasi'.

Devotees visit the temple in large numbers during the festive occasion. The temple, which is 153 km from Hyderabad, has seen several developmental activities during the last few years.

The Telangana Tourism Corporation has started a chopper service from Begumpet for the benefit of the pilgrims who wish to have a quick darshan and return immediately.

The tourists who would be using the helicopter service would be provided special darshan. The pilgrims can use the facility of joy ride over the Vemulawada town and also the Mid Manair Dam areas.

This is the second occasion the government is starting chopper facility for temple tourism. Earlier, the Corporation had implemented chopper services in the recently held Medaram Jatara.

Speaking to the reporters, Minister Srinivas Goud said that lakhs of devotees visit Vemulawada during Sivaratri. All arrangements are made, including special cultural programmes for the people who stay awake entire night.

"The chopper service is started for the first time. Apart from having darshan, the devotees can see the Mid Manair Dam constructed as part of Kaleshwaram project," said Srinivas Goud.

He said that the tourism was developing in the state with several initiatives of the government, including construction of Kaleshwaram project. Special tourism buses have also been provided for the benefit of Vemulawada pilgrims, he added.

Telangana Aviation Director Bharat Reddy said that the tourists can use the chopper service by paying Rs 30,000 per head plus GST. Apart from this, the joy ride in Vemulawada would cost Rs 3,000 per head and Rs 5,500 for viewing Mid Manair Dam.

Stating that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has instructed to start helicopter services to all the temples, he said that the services would be started soon. The services would be for three days starting from February 21 to 23.