The articulate Rao is yet to react to the TRS government’s latest proposal to sell away not just the prime lands in and around Hyderabad but pull down landmark buildings that reflect Telangana’s rich built heritage of the city.
Perhaps Mr. Rao seems embarrassed that a party which came to power on the Telangana sentiment and precisely to safeguard its assets for future generations should do this.
As the government seems bent upon going ahead with its grandiose schemes of shifting the Secretariat from a central location and wiping out the listed heritage buildings on Raj Bhavan road to make way for skyscrapers, the contradictions that beset the Telangana ruling party come to the fore.
On one hand Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao praises the Nizams for their vision and governance but seems to be least worried that his pompous plans would decimate what is left of the built heritage of Hyderabad created by the erstwhile rulers that brought name, fame and identity to the city. Not for nothing it used to be called as city of opulent palaces and gardens with planned tree-lined roads.
The grand G Block of Secretariat, the Errumnuma Palace at Erragadda, the string of buildings with distinct mix of Osmanian and Rajasthani style of architecture on Raj Bhavan road are not merely lime and mortar buildings but enduring cultural symbols of Hyderabad and Telangana, each of them having a lot of historical significance. They are not meant to be gifted away to a contractor or some other alien real estate group whose vision starts and ends with a skyscraper or a “world class mall.”
For instance, the two grandsons of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Prince Mukkaram Jah and Prince Muffakham Jah, were born in Bella Vista, built by a French architect, and which now houses the Administrative Staff College of India.
The Raj Bhavan was the Nizam’s Prime Minister’s official residence where many of the historic political debates took place, including the merger of erstwhile Hyderabad State with the Indian Union. Shah Manzil, the residence of the ADC to the Governor, and the one standing next, both listed for protection, have distinct late Mughal arches and Rajasthan style projecting windows.
By trying to pull down architectural marvels to make way for some fancy concrete buildings, the government that takes credit for reflecting the long standing aspiration of the Mulkis, is ironically destroying the very character and identity of the city and its people. What is the use in changing the history syllabus when these symbols vanish into thin air.
There’s nothing wrong in a Chief Minister having his own vision of developing the city but the question is should it be at the expense of the historical core of a city half of which is already sacrificed to Metro Rail? Should a personal belief in “vaastu” be the overarching principle of secular governance? What happens to the new Secretariat to be created at a cost of Rs. 150 crore if a non-believer takes over as Chief Minister tomorrow?
Should the Secretariat keep moving every time a new Chief Minister is inducted?
Instead of tinkering with the existing protected listed heritage buildings and their precincts and the foreshore areas of the Hussainsagar, the government could make use of the vast expanse of open land, which the city is so fortunate to have, for all its dream projects.
The Chief Minister, for instance, could showcase his vision in either re-creating IT driven hubs like Madhapur or a Gachibowli or create all new ultra modern a mini Singapore type smart city at Gajwel, his constituency.
With good road connectivity, it is not an impossible task. He could go down in Telangana and Hyderabad’s history as a visionary who put into practice a dispersed city development model unlike the present one which seems to thrive on adding multistoried buildings and increasing the per square kilometre density of population of a city that is already bursting at the seams.
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