3-day Gandikota fest commences

Gandikota (Kadapa district): The three-day Gandikota Heritage Festival began on a grand note here on Sunday. Visitors in large numbers thronged Gandikota village to witness the event and a Sobha yatra was organised with hundreds of folk artistes in Jammalamadugu town.

Marketing minister C. Adinarayana Reddy inaugurated the festivities. He also opened the stalls set up by by various departments. Speaking the occasion, the minister said the government was keen on developing the Gandi kota as popular tourism place in view of attracting more tourists from across the country.

Despite government facing severe financial hurdles, it was committed to the development of tourist spots in the interest of generating income to the state through tourism, he said.

The minister said that during the recent two-day collectors’ meeting it was decided to pay the compensation to the displaced of Gandikota reservoir for completion of pending works so that farmers in surrounding villages would get adequate water for agriculture operations.

District collector T Babu Rao Naidu said that following the directions of the government, the district administration was organising the festival. He said that government had sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the festival. The collector appealed to the people to visit the event for making it a grand success. Joint collector Shweta Teota , regional tourism officer Gopal and others were present.