Adilabad tourist spots left out of five ropeway projects cleared under Parvatmala Pariyojana

The Centre has cleared five ropeway projects in Telangana, but none is located in the erstwhile Adilabad district. Kuntala waterfall and other tourist spots remain excluded despite earlier proposals and appeals for improved tourism infrastructure and connectivity.

Adilabad: Despite requests by MLAs, none of the tourist spots from erstwhile Adilabad district were featured among five proposed ropeway projects cleared by the Centre under Parvatmala Pariyojana scheme on Saturday, leaving people disappointed.

The union government sanctioned ropeways at five tourist destinations – Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy temple at Yadadri, NagarjunaKonda, Ramagiri in Peddapalli, and Hanuman Hill of Nalgonda district and Khilla Ramalayam at Dichpally of Nizamabad district.

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The famed Kuntala waterfall and other tourist destinations were not included in the list of the projects.

In 2017, the union government mulled a Tribal Circuit connecting all waterfalls and forts of erstwhile Adilabad at an estimated cost of Rs 104 crore. Under the ambitious Tribal Circuit, a Tribal Resort was proposed to be created at Kuntala village spending Rs 16.41 Cr, while facilities at Kuntala waterfalls were proposed at an estimated cost of Rs 7.33 Cr.

Similarly, a ropeway bridge was proposed at Kuntala waterfall to attract tourists and to give a fillip to the tourism sector. People of the district pinned many hopes on the union government. However, the ropeway remains to be a distant dream for nature lovers. Kuntala was not included in the five projects announced by the Centre.

A ropeway facility was proposed for historic Kankalamma temple at Koutala mandal centre. A similar facility was mulled at Palarapu cliff at Nandigaon village in Penchikalpet mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district for the convenience of tribals who remain isolated during monsoon. Local MLA Dr Harish Babu met union Minister Nitin Gadkari and urged him to sanction the projects in August.

Earlier, Gadkari had announced the National Ropeways Development Programme titled Parvatmala Pariyojana aiming at developing 200 ropeway projects at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh crore in the next five years. The union government planned to attract private players by providing substantial construction support of 60 percent under the hybrid annuity mode for ropeways.

Impact of ropeways

Both time and fuel can be significantly saved by the ropeways when compared to traditional means of transportation. The ropeways put an end to both noise and air-pollution. Tourist destinations can spur adventure and pilgrim tourism with the advent of ropeways. They can attract international tourists. Employment to locals would go up, while the income of the tourism department grows manifold.