Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam , Aug. 30

THE Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) will resume work on the Visakhapatnam-Bheemli beach road, as the High Court has dismissed the petition against it. The project will give a big boost to tourism, said Mr P.S.N. Raju, VUDA's Chairman.

He said here on Tuesday that the project, taken up by the previous regime, had run into a legal hurdle but that had been cleared. The VUDA was also developing a women's college at Rs 3 crore and taking up several housing projects.

The Telugu Museum would be set up atop Kailasagiri and the beach would be beautified to attract more tourists, he said.

Mr G. Venkatarami Reddy, Vice-chairman, said that the decommissioned ship, Anjadeep, would be converted into a museum, but it would cost Rs 3.5 crore. "We are requesting the Navy to bear Rs 2 crore and seeking some financial assistance from the AP Tourism Development Corporation too. We have written to the State and Union Governments and are hopeful of a positive response," he explained.

He said that the ship museum would be set up on the beach road in the vicinity of the Tenneti Park.

Mr Reddy said that VUDA had blacklisted some real estate companies for indulging in dubious practices and urged the public to guard against purchasing plots in unauthorised layouts. In an attempt to prevent the cheating of the general public and exploitation of farmers by some real estate companies, he said that VUDA would allow farmers themselves, individually or through co-operative effort, to develop layouts and get VUDA approval. "However, a minimum of 10 acres of land should be developed," he said.

Mr Reddy said that he was not aware of any coastal regulation zone violations on the beach road and, if there were any, action would be taken against erring parties.

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