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Vijayawada: Following closure of road to the Gandi Pochamma boating point at Anguluru, tourists and others are faced with a serious problem in sailing on River Godavari to Papikondalu.
Following this, passenger boat operators have appealed to the Polavaram irrigation project authorities to allow tourists to pass through the project to reach the boating point.
As the Polavaram project works gain momentum with the authorities taking up execution of the earth-cum-rock-fill dam, they have closed the road at Anguluru village towards the lower coffer dam. As a result, tourists from Rajamahendravaram have difficulty reaching the Gandi Pochamma boating point by road.
The boat operators have appealed to the Polavaram project authorities to allow the tourists to go through the project crossing the check post, spillway and upper cofferdam to reach the Gandi Pochamma boating point, to enable them have a cruise on the river to reach Papikondalu.
However, the project authorities have advised the boat operators to look for an alternative route towards Gokavaram and Dandangi to reach the Gandi Pochamma boating point. If so, the distance for travel from Rajamahendravaram to Gandi Pochamma would be nearly 70km against the regular route distance of 40km from Rajamahendravaram to Gandi Pochamma.
If tourists are allowed to pass through the Polavaram project, the distance will be around 47 km.
Boat operator GVVSN Murali Krishna said, “If our request is heeded by the Polavaram project authorities, tourists would benefit from this. Else, they will have to travel a long distance to reach this popular destination.”
The Gandi Pochamma boating point has 16 tourism boats. A good number of people working in the area are from around Polavaram. Any disruption in boating activity may cause them to leave their only source of livelihood.
Earlier, the boating point used to be at Pattiseema. Subsequently, this was changed to Polavaram, Purushohtapatnam and Singanahalli. After completion of the Polavaram project’s spillway, the boating point has been changed to Gandi Pochamma.
