Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has instructed the officials to take advantage of the barrages and reservoirs constructed as part of the Kaleswaram project and develop tourist spots around the region.
Holding a review meeting at Pragati Bhavan here, the Chief Minister said he wanted tourism centres to come up all over the state after the identification of such places, according to a statement by the Telangana Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
The state government's Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister S Narsing Rao, Secretary Smita Sabharwal, Special Secretary Bhoopal Reddy and others participated in the meeting.
"With barrages constructed as part of the Kaleswaram project, Godavari waters will be available in abundance for several hundred kilometres. Water will be available in the river and canals all through the year. There is a dense forest area on either side of the river. Boating can be done on the river. Beautiful trees can be grown on either side of the river like the one on either side of Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir," the Chief Minister said.
"A lot of land is available with the government at barrages, pump houses and reservoirs under the Kaleswaram project. In these places, a fountain musical water park can be created on the line of Vrindavan Gardens in Mysore," he added.
Rao also said that Toopakula Gudem and Dummu Gudem barrages are also being constructed along with the Kaleswaram project.
"There also several famous temples in their vicinity. Holy places like Basara, Dharmapuri, Kaleswaram, Gudem Satyanarayana Swamy, Koti Lingala, Parnasala and Bhadrachalam are there. There are coal mines in Ramagundam and Mancherial. Tourists can be shown how coal is produced from open-cast and underground mining," he stated.
"Power generating plants at Jaipur and Ramagundam can also be turned into tourist attraction places. Tourism should be developed in the state keeping in view all these points," the Chief Minister said.
( With inputs from ANI )