Vanjangi: Come, enjoy your Sankranti holidays watching beautiful sunrise from the hills

ASR district: Vanjangi Hill, the popular tourist destination in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district reopened to the public on Wednesday.

The resort was closed a week ago for restoration works.

Heaps of plastic waste and other garbage, including empty liquor bottles were collected from the hilltop and the surrounding of the famous tourist destination Vanjangi Hill, located in Paderu mandal (tribal pocket) of Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district in the past one week.

The ASR district administration took up the cleanliness drive anticipating a rise in visitors during the Sankranti festive season. (Jan 10 to Jan 20)

ASR district collector Sumit Kumar said that the Vanjangi is located around 3,400 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL). It is home to one of the most beautiful sunrises (fluffy clouds kissing the peaks of the hills). The hill range was named after the Vanjangi, a small tribal hamlet and it became famous in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana.

“We have deployed 30 persons for the cleanliness drive at various places from the foothill to the hilltop. We have collected more than eight trucks of garbage, including plastic bottles, food covers, paper plates, and empty liquor bottles,” said Mandal Parishad Development Officer, Paderu, K Sai Naveen.

“It took over a week to collect the entire garbage from the Vanjangi Hill and we have observed that the visitors are throwing the plastic bottles at the beautiful place and they are spoiling the beauty. We have decided not to allow the tourists to the hilltop with the plastic bottles and we appealed to the visitors to carry steel water bottles,” he added.

The locals in the ASR district said that garbage is a major concern in Vanjangi Hill, Araku Valley, Lammasingi (popular as Andhra’s Kashmir), and Tagangi. Though tourism is a source of revenue for tribal people, visitors are responsible for the litter, the locals added. We have been appealing to the visitors to keep the places clean by dumping the garbage in the dustbins, majority of the visitors have been ignoring our appeal, they added.

Lammasingi, a tiny tribal village under Chintapalle Mandal in the ASR district hit the headlines for dense fog. Popularly called Andhra’s Kashmir, it has been witnessing a huge rush of tourists during weekends.

“We have been chalking out plans to ban the plastic at the tourist spots to preserve the beauty of the places. We will form special teams to curb the plastic menace at the tourist places,” said ASR district collector Sumit Kumar