The glorious history of the city of Nawabs is slowly being after K Chandrashekhar Rao’s TRS government came to power in June 2014. Rao promised to protect Telangana’s culture but now the government is planning to pull down historical structures for swanky buildings.
The government is planning to build skyscrapers near Hyderabad’s Hussain Sagar lake which will replace many buildings of cultural significance. It plans to shift the Secretariat from a central location. And one of the city’s oldest hospitals, Osmania General Hospital, will soon be brought down for a super specialty hospital.
Deputy Chief Minister Mehmood Ali said, “Everything is not heritage. We cannot stop work and say this is heritage. We will do a survey and see if any building needs to be included in the list.”
Heritage conservationists in the state have slammed the TRS government for not even recognising various heritage structures. Heritage Conservation Committee recommended about 30 structures to be included in the Heritage List but the government has turned a blind eye.
Heritage activist Sajjad Sajid said, “The new government has completely failed to conserve heritage.”
Even opposition parties are also up in arms. Congress leader Shravan says, “Rao’s move is not in the interest of public. The problem is KCR does not listen to anyone. He is a dictator.”
Protests also rocked the historical Osmania University campus over the Chief Minister’s decision to acquire 11 acres of the University land to build houses for the poor.
