Tourism Minister V. Srinivas Goud has said that the final dossier for World Heritage Site recognition to Ramappa temple in Warangal was submitted to the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for forwarding it to the UNESCO.
The nomination dossier on Ramappa temple was submitted in 2016 and the final dossier, after several revisions as directed by the ASI, was submitted on January 10, 2019, he said at the Legislative Council here on Thursday.
Vasu Poshyanandana from Thailand, an expert for evaluation of Ramappa temple, was nominated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, UNESCO. He visited the temple in September last year. “We hope that Ramappa temple will be the first site to get world heritage recognition and will attract the attention of tourists from the entire world,” he said.
TRS MLC Pochampally Srinivas Reddy raised the subject and sought to know the measures that were taken to get recognition to the historical temple. He suggested that Ramappa temple has a 27-acre tank with an island and there were proposals to construct a meditation centre too.
The work taken up by the Central Archaeology department was going on at a snail’s pace and so also work on the Thousand Pillar temple. There was 27 acres of agricultural land near the temple and the whole site could be developed as a tourism village.
The Minister said that plans were on for construction of an auditorium, meditation centre and accommodation for tourists near the temple site. A proposal to develop a tourism circuit in Warangal was under government’s consideration. Government would also develop all natural scenic spots, waterfalls in all the districts and areas around the reservoirs being constructed under Kaleshwaram and other irrigation projects would be developed as tourist centres.
After irrigation projects were completed in two years, government would focus on a big way on tourism and develop tourism spots to generate revenue as well as employment opportunities. He said the suggestion to deploy helicopters for Rama Navami celebrations in Bhadradri and sanction of College of Sculpture near Ramappa temple in Warangal would be taken to the notice of the Chief Minister.
