Telangana government plans to develop a Buddhist tourism circuit in Telangana by setting up an International Buddha Museum in Buddhavanam to attract Buddhists from all over the country and link it to the Buddha statue in Hussainsagar along with the historical sites in Phanigiri and Nelakondapalli.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy directed officials to prepare proposals to set up the Buddha Museum in Buddhavanam, Nagarjunasagar, and as a part of it, the road to Nagarjunasagar from Hyderabad would also be developed as a four-lane road.
The State government has recently sent a Detailed Project Report to the Centre for the development of Buddhavanam as part of the Swadeshi Darshan 2.0 scheme announced by the Central government. It proposed to set up a Buddhist digital museum and exhibition and digital archives at Buddhavanam with an estimated cost of ₹25 crore. The International Buddha Museum will be included in this plan.
The Nagarjunasagar - Buddhavanam will be developed as a tourism and spiritual destination centre. Tourists will have an additional attraction of Nagarjunasagar dam. It has also been decided to restore the boat trips to the backwater for tourists.
The Chief Minister also suggested to the officials to design a circular skywalk around Tank Bund, Telangana Amarula Jyoti, Necklace Road and Sanjeevaiah park. International consultancies and experts should be roped in to design the models.
Golconda roads
Mr. Revanth Reddy felt that all roads around Golconda have turned narrow due to encroachments and asked the officials to remove them but ensure that residents and shopkeepers were resettled.