VIJAYAWADA: To revive the tourism sector, which was hit by Covid-19, the State government has been exploring all possibilities to promote temple tourism in Krishna district. An action plan in this regard is being drafted by officials of endowments and tourism departments and the same will be sent to the government for its approval. Official sources said that Kanaka Durga temple and Sri Lakshmi Tirupatamma temple, Penuganchiprolu are the two major temples in the district. On an average, around 40,000 devotees visit Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri, while 15,000 devotees visit Penuganchiprolu daily.
Devotees, who throng Indrakeeladri, also visit the Bhavani Island situated on River Krishna. Keeping this in view, the endowments department has drafted a master plan to attract the devotees to other temples in the district. A team of officials conducted a detailed study to explore the potential of temple tourism in the district.
The officials have identified that apart from Kanaka Durga temple and Sri Lakshmi Tirupatamma temple, footfall of the devotees is also high at Sri Subramanyeswara Swamy temple in Mopidevi, Sri Venugopala Swamy temple in Nemali, Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumalagiri, Sri Yogananda Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Vedadri and Sri Valli Devasena Sametha Subramanyeswara Swamy temple in Singarayipalem. Besides, the devotees also throng temples at Mangalagiri, Pedda Kakani, Amaravati, Tenali and Vykuntapuram.
The officials have readied an action plan combining both temples and tourist spots under the temple tourism concept. The tourist spots in the district include Kondapalli Fort, Challapalli Fort, Bapu Museum, Amaravati Museum and Undavalli Caves.
Kanaka Durga temple executive officer (EO) MV Suresh Babu told TNIE that many devotees appealed to Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvari Devasthanam to arrange bus services on the lines of TTD to visit the nearby temples in and around Vijayawada. Earlier, the tourism department had arranged a bus service for the devotees to visit the temples and tourist spots in Krishna and Guntur districts. Due to a variety of reasons, the facility has been suspended. Recently, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the endowments and tourism departments to revive the temple tourism concept.