Lankan PM Dinesh Gunawardhana urged to operate daily flights to Hyderabad

Hyderabad : Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud on Friday urged Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardhana to operate daily flights to Hyderabad for the convenience of tourists to visit Buddhist tourist spots in Telangana.

Goud, who is in Sri Lanka, called on Gunawardhana and explained the efforts being made to develop Buddhism in the State. The Lankan PM praised the efforts of the State government. He said Buddhism has a lot of historical importance in the Telangana region.

Gunawardhana congratulated Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his efforts to bring back the glory of Buddhism in Telangana via temple tourism, medical tourism, industrial policy and agricultural policies.

The minister explained that Buddhism had spread in the Telangana region since the time when Buddha was alive. He said after the State formation, the CM was working to preserve ancient Buddhist sites like Kotilingala, BadamKurti, Fanigiri, Nagarjuna Konda, Nelakondapalli.

Explaining the Buddhavanam project, Goud said it was built in approximately 200 acres in historic Vijayapuri (Nagarjunasagar) with international standards costing Rs 100 crore. He appealed to the PM to provide daily flights from Sri Lanka to Hyderabad for the convenience of Buddhist spiritual tourists.

Gunawardhana responded positively to Goud’s appeal and request to improve Buddhist spiritual and cultural relations between Lanka and Telangana.

In this meeting the PM revealed that the book written by his daughter-in-law on history of Hyderabad in Sinhala language will be released in Telugu and English soon.

Lanka’s Western Province MP YadaminiGunawardhana, National Government secretary Sugeswar, Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Kuruppu, Light of Asia founder Naveen Gunawardene, Buddha’s character in the Buddha biopic being produced in Hollywood Gagan Malik and others were present.