Centre neglecting Telangana heritage: KCR

Says State endowed with wonderful waterfalls, historic places

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday lambasted the BJP government at the Centre for cold-shouldering Telangana on various fronts, including tourism. “Telangana has a rich culture, history, tradition and arts, all untapped. Despite repeated requests, there has been no response from the Centre to give it the recognition it deserves,” he said.

Pointing out that Telangana’s history, culture, traditions and arts were not promoted for 58 years in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister said the State was endowed with wonderful waterfalls and historic places like the Pandavula Gutta hillock in Khammam and Jogulamba temple at Alampur among many that were all neglected.

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After State formation, the Telangana government took up several programmes to promote the rich heritage, scenic locations and spiritual centres as part of tourism, the Chief Minister said, intervening during Question Hour in the State Assembly here.

“The history of the Satavahanas is as rich and glorious as the Magadha Empire,” he said and revealed that several royal families were willing to hand over their ancient forts including the Domakonda Fort to the State government for developing them into tourist attractions and conserve them as heritage structures.

“We will develop tourist spots using all the natural beauty of Telangana State. We have numerous scenic locations on a 160-km stretch of Godavari river. We have a lot of tourism potential due to available heritage structures, dense forests, waterfalls, scenic locations, spiritual centres and temples,” Chandrashekhar Rao said, adding that several researchers had taken up new excavations at several places in the State for old royal legislations and decrees.

Stating that the Union government has been procrastinating on the proposals for sanction of six airstrips in the State for more than six and a half years, even though the State government offered to develop them with its own funds, the Chief Minister said: “The Union government has been reckless towards the glorious remnants of Telangana’s history. There are several artists and distinguished people in our State as well. But when the government proposes their names for Padma awards, the Central government does not consider them. I have personally asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah whether they wanted us to send any names at all or not. They promised necessary action in this regard,” he said.

Chandrashekhar Rao said a committee would be formed with MLAs of all the districts to take steps to identify, develop and showcase historical places, forts, scenic spots and unique temples in the State, to the world.