In what can be said as first of its kind in Vizag, Community Based Eco-Tourism (CBET) & Eastern Ghats Biodiversity Complex is coming up near Ananthagiri, close to Araku valley in Alluri Seetharama Ananthagiri district.  Towards this end, MOA has been inked between NTPC Simhadri and District Forest Office (DFO), Visakhapatnam for implementation of the project. 

Speaking to Hello Vizag, the district forest officer (DFO), Anant Shankar, said CSR funds would be utilised for this project. The proposed project is for a period of three years ( 2022-23 to 2024-25)  at an outlay of 5.50 crore. As per terms & conditions of Agreement, First Instalment amount of Rs.2.20 Crores out of First Year amount of Rs.2.50 Crore, was released in December,2022.  In addition, government funds will also be used for different works at the proposed centre.

The DFO said the project is proposed under Mission Conserve Eastern Ghats and aimed to tap the tourism potential of the serene natural landscape of the Tribal Agency area in Ananthagiri. In addition, it will help generate livelihoods for local tribal communities in the area. The proposed centre will work on the model of community-based eco-tourism where local community is trained to manage the eco-tourism and they derive the benefits from the project. The local tribal community will be the custodian of the facility.

Ruma De Sharma, AGM ( HR) of NTPC Simhadri said “all legal approvals & compliances for the project have been received. Works like site clearance, demarcation, road, water, electricity connection, optical fibre network pipelines have also been started & are under progress. Meanwhile, training of selected tribal youth & women from the adjoining villages has also been started.

The revenue generated from the proposed centre will be used solely for the management of the facility and the surplus amount will be used for community development and forest and wildlife conservation works. The centre will have eco-cottages, an interpretation centre, non-timber forest produce (NTFP) processing centre, an open butterfly garden, Orchidarium, a medicinal plants garden, and a watch tower.