Plans to promote ethnic tourism: Medaram jatara

​Medaram (Bhupalpally): With seven months to go for the biennial fest, the State government has begun efforts to put the Sammakka-Saralamma Medaram jatara, touted as the Asia’s biggest tribal fair, on global tourism map.

Over the years, it has become customary for the government to allocate crores of rupees for the arrangements at Medaram and start from the scratch ahead of the next fete. Although, the recurring expenditure costing exchequer a bomb, the government never came up with permanent solutions to tackle issues such as roads, drinking water, shelters etc.

Against this backdrop, finally, the government seems to be moving in a right direction to utilise the funds creating facilities not only to be useful for local devotees but also for those coming from far-flung places. On its radar, the government has plans to attract domestic and international tourists, this by way of projecting the cultural and ethnic diversity of the region.

As part of the plan, the government has plans to develop two to three facilities around Medaram within the radius of 20 to 30 kilometers, to cover other famous destinations – Ramappa temple and Laknavaram Lake.

These facilities will have hotels, restaurants and other amenities that reflect the ethnicity of the region besides providing comfort on par with the international standards. The authorities, who prepared designs for such facilities, have sent them for the approval of the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, sources said. A plan is also on the anvil to take up an extensive propaganda; this includes extending special invites to tourism development authorities in and abroad to draw the tourists.

It may be noted here that recently the government has earmarked Rs 100 crore for the fete scheduled from January 31 to February 3. In a review meeting in Hyderabad recently, the Tourism and Tribal Welfare Minister Azmeera Chandulal and Chief Secretary S P Singh discussed at length about the arrangements including drinking water, transportation, sanitation, security measures etc.

They also felt the need for documenting the fiesta to use it as a guide for future arrangements. The government is likely to appoint a senior IAS official to oversee the jatara arrangements. The administration has decided to construct a Kalyanakatta with an outlay of Rs 75 lakh for the upcoming fete, besides improving other amenities. The other major decision, the authorities have decided to put an end to issuing of special darshan passes to VIPs for the convenience of devotees.

Speaking to The Hans India, Telangana State Department of Culture Director Mamidi Harikrishna said: “Though the fete is attracting lakhs of people across from the country and abroad for decades, it has been branded as a local fair. The government is trying its best to put Medaram fete on global tourism map to spread the flavour of Telangana.”