APTDC Vijayawada division gears up for 'Krishna puskhar'

To earn Rs 20 lakh during 12-day festival beginning on August 28

The Vijayawada division of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) expects to earn Rs 20 lakh through its boats, hotels, coaches and other services during the 'Krishna pushkar' festival. The 12-day festival is scheduled to begin on August 28.

The division, which covers Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and West Godavari districts, earns Rs 22 lakh per month on an average.

Speaking to Business Standard, S Suryaprakash Rao, divisional manager of APTDC, said that around 80 lakh pilgrims and tourists were expected to throng the city for a holy dip in the Krishna river during the once-in-12-years event.

"As a pushkar gift to tourists, a Rs 1-crore new air-conditioned 'Bodhisri' boat with a 140-seating capacity is being pressed into service. The APTDC divisions at Kurnool, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar have also made necessary arrangements to cater to the needs of the pilgrims," he said.

Rao said that the tourism department had spruced up all the existing tourism facilities and opened several information-cum-booking centres to make the people aware of the packages at reasonable rates.

"As the arrangements were made months in advance keeping the 'pushkar' in mind, the division had not incurred any additional or special expenses," he said.

Four new high-tech buses have been deployed to take the pilgrims to all the important tourist attractions in Krishna and Guntur districts on one-day trips.

Important among the trips are Vijayawada-Manginapudi-Chilakalapudi-Pedana and Vijayawada-Kuchipudi-Srikakulam-Mopidevi (Krishna) and Amaravathi-Mangalagiri-Undavilli (Guntur) packages.

The division will also organise long-distance trips from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Srisailam and Hyderabad at competitive rates.

"With the present water level in Krishna at the Prakasam barrage here, APTDC could operate only eight small boats in the river," Rao said.

The department was hoping that the Nagarjuna Sagar water would reach the barrage by the month-end, and if the water level rose by another two feet, the division would entertain pilgrims in all the ten boats including the big boats. Special boarding points were also set up at Sitanagaram (Guntur), Kanakadurga temple ghat and Punnami Hotel point, he said.

"Not many foreigners visited the state during the Godavari pushkar last year and the situation is likely to be the same during the Krishna pushkar as well," Rao said.