Develop Devanur forest block as eco-tourism spot: NGOs

Organisations urge Union Minister to declare it Reserve Forest to curb mining, other illegal activities

Warangal: Members of the Vana Seva Society (VSS), Orugallu Wildlife Society (OWLS) and green clubs/green NGOs of Warangal on Friday met Union Minister of Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy and urged him to take steps to develop Devanur forest block (Inuparathi Guttalu) as an eco-tourism spot in Hanamkonda.

They also urged him to impress upon the Central government to declare the forest block as the Reserve Forest immediately in order to avoid mining and other illegal activities in the hillocks, which are part of the one per cent of the forest area in Hanamkonda district. In the memorandum submitted to the Union Minister, they said that this area had been a dense forest since 1940. However, it has not been notified as the Reserved Forest so far. “There is a proposal pending with the District Administration for want of notification under section 4 of Telangana Forest Act. Even the textile park was shifted to Geesukonda mandal in Warangal Rural district (now Warangal district) since the area falls under forest and attracts Forest Conservation Act, 1980,” they mentioned.

“The Inuparathi Gutta forest hills, spread over Dharmasagar, Velair, Bheemadevarapally and Elkaturthy mandals, is rich in biodiversity with lush green forest. Rare flora and fauna were seen at the forest blocks that has perennial water sources. With beautiful landscapes and hill slopes. It can be developed into an ideal eco-tourism destination besides an urban lung space,” said environmental and RTI activist Potlapally Veerabhadra Rao, adding that one private company had proposed to take up quartz mining in the forest ‘claiming’ that they were going to dig the minerals in the private lands. The members of the VSS, OWLS and villagers of the Devanur village said that mining would cause great harm to the forest and natural resources, and requested the Minister to not allow the mining at any cost.

“The hills area has been a potential eco-tourism site and a lot of environmental programmes have been organised by forest and tourism department, and in one such event, tented accommodation and night camping were started by the then Collector Amrapali Kata in 2018 and many eco-tourism activities were also planned,” said former DFO K Purushotham. He also urged the Minister to look into the issues like cancellation of the irregular pattas inside the forest area, suspension of mining leases of any kind, notifying the 4,000 plus acres as Reserve Forest with boundary demarcation and the promotion of ecotourism activities by involving Forest and Tourism Departments. OWLS founders Ch Shyam Sunder, Indaram Nageswar Rao, Pittal Ravi Babu and others were present.

Kalyanamandam restoration works will resume in a week: Kishan Reddy

Warangal: Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy announced that the officials will resume works of the reconstruction of the Kalyanamandapam of the Thousand Pillar temple in Hanamkonda within a week. He also added that he would visit Warangal again in September and conduct a review meeting over the works of the reconstruction of the mandapam.

Addressing a rally at Adalat Centre in Hanamkonda on Friday as part of ‘Jana Aashirwad Yatra’, the Union Minister alleged that the previous governments had neglected the rich heritage of the Kakatiyas and assured that he would accord the highest priority to protect and conserve the heritage sites including the Thousand Pillar Temple, Warangal Fort and others as a tourist spot.

Referring to the UNESCO tag for the Ramappa temple in Mulugu district, Kishan Reddy said that the Narendra Modi-led Union government had left no stone unturned to convince the nations that opposed the tag earlier to vote for the Ramappa temple and confer the world heritage tag. “I am happy to share with you that the UNESCO’s website had added the Ramappa temple to its website as the world heritage site on Thursday. I am also happy for being the Union Minister for Tourism when the Ramappa temple received the UNESCO tag recently,” he said and added that he would also visit the Ramappa temple during his next visit scheduled for September and review the steps to be taken to provide facilities at the spot as the international tourist footfall would witness a steep hike in the coming days.

He, however, alleged that the State government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had failed to allot the required land for Mamnoor airport near Warangal to revive the old airport and advised the Chief Minister to immediately take steps to hand over the land to the Centre which was ready to develop the airport.

Referring to Huzurabad bypoll, Kishan Reddy alleged that the TRS government was creating hurdles to former Minister Eatala Rajender, and added that, the latter would, however, retain the seat. Earlier, Kishan Reddy offered prayers at the historic Bhadrakali temple and Thousand Pillar temple. BJP district president Rao Padma and others accompanied Kishan Reddy during the yatra.

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