KARIMNAGAR: The long-pending dream of a direct and shorter route to the historic Elgandal Fort on the outskirts of Karimnagar town is set to be realised soon.
Foundation stone was laid on Sunday for the construction of a bridge across the Lower Manair Dam (LMD) reservoir backwaters and for restoring the old road into double road at a cost of ₹60 crore.
Earlier, the distance between Karimnagar Bus Station and Elgandal Fort was only 8.5 km. Following the construction of LMD reservoir and submergence of some parts of village in the project, a new road to Elgandal was laid via Chintakunta, Kamanpur, Asifnagar making it a total of 17.2 km.
Hamper tourism
Though, the Government had announced several plans for the development of tourism at the historic Elgandal Fort, but it could not materialize due the long distance. Karimnagar MLA G. Kamalakar took the initiative to revive the the old route to the Fort to give a boost to tourism. Under tourism promotion the Government released ₹60 crore for the restoration of old road to the Fort by expanding it into a double-road and by taking up construction of a 650 m bridge over the backwaters of the reservoir. The restored old direct route would reduce the distance to the fort by 9 km.
The foundation stone for the new project was laid at a grand programme in Elgandal village on Sunday, Minister for R&B Tummala Nageshwara Rao, Minister for Finance Etala Rajender, member of Parliament from Karimnagar B. Vinod Kumar, Karimnagar MLA G. Kamalakar, MLC Naradasu Laxman Rao, Zilla Praja Parishad Chairperson Tula Uma, Karimnagar Dairy chairman Ch. Rajeshwara Rao and others participated.
Grand plans
Finance Minister Etala Rajender said that the restoration of old road to the Elgandal Fort would throw open doors for more tourism in Karimnagar town.
The Government had a number of plans for development of tourism in the town and in the district, the Finance Minister said.
The Government had proposed Manair Riverfront project at a cost of ₹500 crore.
This would provide a picturesque locale for the people of the town to go to and spend time.
Further, the first of its kind cable-stayed bridge across the Manair river would come up at a cost of over ₹150 crore to encourage tourism in the town, the Finance Minister said.
