Nizamabad MP K Kavitha met Union minister of State for Tourism and Culture Mahesh Sharma here Tuesday, urging him to include the Gnana Saraswathi Temple at Basar in Adilabad district in the Centre’s Prasad scheme and Bhadrachalam town in the Ramayana Circuit under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
She also invited the minister to visit Telangana next month to participate in Bathukamma festivities.
Explaining the importance of Gnana Saraswathi temple in Basar, Kavitha said the temple is one of the two shrines of Goddess Saraswathi in the country, the other being in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The temple has the idols of Mahakali and Lakshmi too. Due to the presence of Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Kali, Basara is considered as the abode of the divine trinity,” she said and stressing the need to include the temple in the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (Prasad) scheme.
Pointing out the historic and religious significance of Bhadrachalam town, famous for the Sri Sitarama Swamy temple, Kavitha urged the minister to include the temple in the Ramayana Circuit of Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The MP also sought the support of tourism ministry for the preservation, protection and conservation of forts, various monuments and Megalithic burial sites in Medak district.
Kavitha said Telangana State Department of Archaeology and Museums has unearthed iron weapons, blackware pottery and skeletal remains dating back to 1,000 BC from the Megalithic burial sites at Pullur Banda village in Siddipet mandal of Medak. “The state has got a number of monuments like palaces and forts that are in a dilapidated condition. There is an urgent need to preserve them and TS would need the technical support of the Archaeological Survey of India,’’ she added.
The MP urged the minister to instruct ASI officials to depute a dedicated team to study the archeological sites in the state.
Source: The New Indian Express