HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has relaunched its road-cum-river cruise trip from Hyderabad to Srisailam after a gap of almost seven months. The tour package, which gives tourists an opportunity to experience the best of nature, was relaunched on Sept 29 but the response for the same has not been encouraging due to the ongoing Telangana agitation.But now that the stir seems to be losing steam, the APTDC officials hope that citizens will love to take a break from their busy schedules to bask in nature for two days and a night. The scheme, launched on November 8 last year, was suspended in February this year considering the decline in water level at the Nagarjunasagar dam. “The river cruise is on only when the water level in the dam is between 560-590 ft. When the water level was low, we had to stop the project,” explained B Manohar, Deputy General Manager, APTDC. The 32 trips APTDC took last year yielded them an income of Rs 70 lakh from a total number of over 4,000 tourists.One can reserve tickets from the APTDC central reservation office at Basheerbagh or Tank bund road or Yatri Nivas for the trip which is on every Monday and Thursday. Tourists have also the option of making it to Nagarjunasagar on their own and thus further reduce the expenditure. Such a discounted package tour costs Rs 2000 for an adult and Rs 1600 for a child compared to Rs 3000 and Rs 2400 in case the tourists prefer to board from Hyderabad itself. The bus departs at 6.30 am from the Yatri Nivas at Secunderabad and reaches Nagarjunasagar by 10 am. Tourists get a feel of the world’s largest masonry dam and also get to visit the Nagarjunakonda museum, known for its ancient Buddhist artifacts. Motor launch Agatsya, APTDC’s twin-engined, low-risk double-decker boat would take the tourists to Srisailam on the river Krishna in six hours. The river cruise covers a total of 110 km.The boat has both AC and Non-AC sections and can carry a maximum of 80 members. This journey itself would be a unique experience. By 5 pm, the boat reaches Lingalagutta, from where a bus takes tourists to Srisailam by ghat road. Boarding and lodging would be provided by the APTDC.
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