Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that the State government would make the historic Kondaveedu Fort a prominent tourist destination.

On the concluding day of ‘Kondaveeti Utsavalu’ held on Monday, Mr. Naidu inaugurated the ghat road and laid the foundation stone for ‘Nagara Vanam’.

Addressing a public meeting on the foothills of the hill fort, he narrated the sequence of events that led to establishment of the fort as a formidable bastion, the capital of the Reddi Kings followed by the Gajapatis and the legacy of Sri Krishnadevarayulu, who captured the fort in the year 1515 after fighting for three days.

Tumultuous past

The fort had not lost his glory then even when the Mughal emperors set their sights on it. Aurangazeb and later the Nizams, the French and the British conquered the fort and used it as an arms garrison. The fort is a conglomeration of 50 hills, the CM said, adding that the approach to the fort had now become easy, thanks to the ghat road laid at a cost of ₹34 crore replete with electrification. An additional ₹ 2.5 crore had been spent on eco tourism and ₹1.5 crore towards construction of steps.

He also promised to establish a museum, a star hotel, put in place a rope way, a zoo and a botanical garden and transform the forest area spread across 14,000 acres into a major tourist destination.