Vijayawada: A large number of tourists from states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and AP have started visiting the popular tourist destination Papikondalu on Godavari river on the Sankranti eve.
Private tourism boats are being operated to Papikondalu from both the Gandi Pochamma temple and from Pochavaram. This time, nearly 35 boats including two from APTDC are running to their full capacity, carrying hundreds of tourists to Papikondalu.
Tourists arrive in Rajahmundry and visit nearby temples in Annavaram and other places, proceed to the Gandi Pochamma temple and set sail on Godavari river to reach Papikondalu. They enjoy the fun while cruising on the river. They can see the thick vegetation and the hill ranges on either side of the river. They enjoy the sight of sand dunes and see the wild animals roaming in the area.
A majority of these boats are double- decked. They have air-conditioning and toilet facilities. The boat operators organise some cultural programmes while sailing on the river to entertain the devotees with songs and action that suit their age. They offer breakfast, lunch and snacks to the tourists.
Tourists say they are delighted at the cruising on the Godavari river as part of Sankranti celebrations.
Some 15 boats are anchored at the Gandi Pochamma temple. All these are being engaged for the benefit of tourists during this season.
Tourism boat operator Murali Krishna said, “We are operating all our boats in the last two days and Sankranti festival will be the last festival in this season, which began during the Darasa vacation in October and continued up to Sankara this January. Tourists are excited to sail on Godavari waters and we are following all safety norms.”
Similarly, 20 boats are being operated from Pochavaram. Tourists mainly from Hyderabad and parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha arrive at the Bhadrachalam temple, take darshan of Lord Ram, offer special prayers and reach Polavaram, covering over 72km by road to set sail on Godavari to reach Papikondalu.
Another boat operator from Pochavaram, Sudha, said, “The Rama temple at Bhadrachalam is attracting more tourists mainly from Hyderabad. They visit the temple at the first instance and take a boat ride to Papikondalu.”
Boat operators say they are pressing into service all their boats for a festival this time, for the first time.
Nearly 2,500 to 3,000 tourists boarded the 35 boats in the last two days from both Gandhi Pochamma and Pochavaram.
On the other hand, there is a demand from tourists to allow them to visit the Polavaram project and develop a tourist circuit connecting local temples like Annavaram etc before setting sail to Papikondalu. This would give a major boost to tourism and help earn good revenue also.
APTDC allegedly shows little interest in promoting boat ride to Papikondalu and lesser interest in promoting temple tourism. They are reluctant about developing a website and providing advance booking of tickets for a boat ride and for darshan at temples. It also did nothing yet to develop the ghats despite collecting user charges of Rs 100 per head from the tourists.
Tourists complain that there are no proper ghats and other amenities for them to spend time and relax in this area.
