VUDA’s Health Arena and Buddhavanam as a part of it at the foothill of Kaialasagiri were inaugurated by Panchayat Raj Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu and HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday.
Though Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was scheduled to inaugurate the project after the conclusion of the Partnership Summit, he had to rush to Hyderabad to participate in a joint election meeting with BJP.
While on the way to the airport, he asked the two Ministers to inaugurate it as a large number of people were waiting there. However, VUDA officials first announced the cancellation of the programme and it’s taking place again during the International Fleet Review. But with communication received later, the inauguration took place.
The health arena comprises a cycling track, jogging track, space for aerobics and martial arts, gym building and meditation zone.
The health arena was developed with Rs.7.3 crore and Buddhavanam spending Rs.34 lakh. Developed as tourist attraction, an eight-minute laser show traces how Buddhism flourished in Andhra Pradesh, the launching of Buddha Poornima project at Hyderabad during the tenure of the late NTR and the development of Thotlakonda, Bavikonda and other Buddhist sites by VUDA.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao said Buddhavanam has an artistic appeal. He assured women that a pyramid meditation centre would be constructed there.
He complimented the efforts of VUDA, GVMC and the district administration in making the city attractive and raising greenery and said Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan appreciated it.
VUDA Vice-Chairman T. Babu Rao Naidu said Buddhavanam project was completed in a record time with the brain behind it, Social Welfare Deputy Director Mallikarjuna Rao and others working round-the-clock.
The Ministers felicitated Mr. Mallikarjuna Rao.
MLA V. Ramakrishna Babu and Joint Collector J. Nivas participated. The 31-foot Buddha statue is raised on a 3-foot pedestal. The concrete statue has a Plaster of Paris coating and the head is made of fibre. It has as backdrop 35-foot wide with chakras and a five-foot diameter half-chakra on the top.
Beyond it, are 42 granite carvings with Jataka tales and mudras and Amaravati-type sculptures.
The statue has on either side four pillars on the lines of Sankaram, a Buddhist site in the district.
