While the Singapore is shaping up the plan for an iconic capital city for Andhra Pradesh, the city based School of planning and Architecture (SPA) will be designing the tourism circuit plan.
Amaravathi, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, and a host of other villages are going to be an archaeologist’s delight as officials of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) are stumbling on one prehistoric site or the other at regular intervals.
More ancient sites are likely to be unearthed in the near future as new constructions come up, asserted N. Sridharan, Director of School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), which began mapping archaeological sites in the capital region on a request by the CRDA. Mr. Sridharan told The Hindu that he was trying to obtain a copy of the history manual of Gordon McKenzie from the National Archives of India for an authentic perspective of this region which boasted of global trade linkages. Mr. McKenzie, a renowned British writer, had extensively travelled in the coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh in the late 18{+t}{+h}century.
“I am also drawing from the expertise of reputed institutions like the University of Cologne in Germany with which I had worked on similar research projects earlier,” Mr. Sridharan said. SPA, which is already on the job of monitoring the greenery and landscaping project in the capital region as a third party evaluator, has been asked by the CRDA to make a Tourism Plan as well.
The GIS-based mapping of sites of archaeological importance is a part of that tourism planning exercise, which is going to take not less than six months for completion. A Ring Rail project is an interesting component of the tourism plan being worked out by the SPA.
The SPA has suggested to the CRDA to set up a museum on the lines of the National Museum in New Delhi for preserving abandoned artefacts. Stone inscriptions and other objects of antique value lying in a state of neglect are sought to be brought to the proposed museum. CRDA Commissioner N. Srikanth appreciated the idea and promised to take it up with the government.
Another important work that the SPA is doing is documenting the transformation of the capital region from the day of formation of the new State for passing it on to posterity. Students of the SPA are extensively travelling for that purpose.
The GIS-based mapping of sites of archaeological importance is a part of the tourism planning exercise, which is going to take not less than six months
