The speakers at the ‘Bouddha mela', organised by the Visakha Bouddha Sanghala Samakhya, at the foothills of Bojjannakonda on Tuesday deplored the ‘neglect’ of the Buddhist heritage site by the government.
Thousands of people from various parts of the country converge at Bojjannakonda on Kanumu day, the day after Sankranti, every year to participate in the annual festival.
They decried the site being reduced to a mere picnic spot with tourists and general public coming only during the picnic season and the annual ‘Bouddha mela’.
No proper road
There is no proper approach road, no city bus facility and temporary arrangements like police security are provided only during the Bouddha mela, when around 60,000 people converge at the hill.
Pujya Dharmadhaja Banteji of Dhammdeepika Charitable Trust, Ghantasala in Krishna district, described Buddhism as a ‘way of life’ and not a religion.
“Greater security is needed to protect the centuries-old site from anti-social elements and to protect the sanctity of the place. This site should be included in the tourist circuit to promote tourism in a big way,” he told The Hindu .
“I have been coming here for the past seven years and I hear that the Union Government has sanctioned ₹ 70 crore for the development of Buddhist heritage sites in the region. There are complaints of quarrying of the hills nearby and this is said to be causing destruction of the heritage monuments and the government should initiate immediate action,” he said.
“This site should be developed as a tourist spot and accommodation should be provided to tourists apart from basic amenities like toilets and drinking water. The Centre and State governments should take greater interest in promotion of the site to attract tourists from far and wide,” said Balla Nagabhushanam, founder president of Siddhartha Social Service and Cultural Association.
Bojjannakonda was excavated under the aegis of Alexander Rim in 1906. A gold coin belonging to the Samudragupta period, copper coins of the Chalukya king, Kubja Vishnu Vardhan, coins of Andhra Satavahanas and pottery were discovered at the site. An interesting feature of Bojjannakonda is that it shows features of all the three phases: Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
A stairway leads to a large double-storeyed cave on the hill. The rectangular cave has a doorway and is flanked by ‘dwarapalas' on either side.
A series of rock-cut caves and monolithic structures standing on rock platforms are present on the northern side of the hill.
