Hyderabad: Revenue and housing minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Monday announced plans to develop the 3rd-century Buddhist stupa at Nelakondapalli in Palair constituency into an international Buddhist tourism hub, with a focus on restoring the historic monument and creating tourism infrastructure.
He said the stupa, discovered around 50 years ago, is one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the country. Archaeological excavations within a 1.5-km radius of the stupa had unearthed several ancient artefacts. During his visit to the Palair constituency, the minister also announced that all pending bills under the Indiramma housing scheme across Telangana would be credited directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts within 10 days. Earlier, the minister laid the foundation for a 2.5-km bituminous road connecting Anasagaram and Pammi in Nelakondapalli mandal at an estimated cost of Rs. 2.80 crore.
Referring to the rainfall deficit caused by the El Niño effect, the minister expressed concern over the challenges facing farmers due to possible shortages of electricity and water.
He said previous govts had initiated development works in the area but failed to complete them. On the directions of chief minister A Revanth Reddy, a meeting would be organised with Buddhist representatives from across the world, local community members, experts in Buddhist monuments and concerned officials to discuss the future development of the historic site, he said. The minister laid the foundation for various development works aimed at preserving the Buddhist site and improving facilities in the surrounding areas. However, owing to the lack of local facilities for their preservation, the artefacts were shifted to a museum in Hyderabad. At Rythu Vedika in Nelakondapalli, Srinivasa Reddy distributed sanction letters to beneficiaries under the second phase of the Indiramma housing scheme in the mandal. He advised farmers against taking up a second crop to avoid potential financial losses. He subsequently inaugurated a newly constructed gram panchayat office building at Gorillapadu Thanda in Kusumanchi mandal.
He also urged Congress workers to intensify voter registration to ensure party candidate Ramreddy Sarvotham Reddy’s victory with a majority of first-preference votes in the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduate MLC election.