Charminar Area Dug Up Against Law, What ASI Doing?

By Aeman Fatima Nishat / Hyderabad

India's Heritage Icon and Hyderabad's Pride - Charminar is in danger. Construction Activity Near Monument Goes Unchecked. Destruction of the Charminar heritage precincts continues unabated with three fresh instances of construction activity reported within the 100-metre and 200-metre zones, right under the nose of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), whose job seems to be restricted to just slapping notices. 
     
The ASI, custodian of the 400-year-old monument has sent more than a dozen showcause notices, but most property owners have ignored the toothless giant’s missives. 
    
“Property owners simply don’t come to us to obtain permission,” said an ASI official, underscoring the pathetic state of affairs. 
    
The latest incident of construction within the 100-metre protected zone came to light earlier this month and the ASI facing criticism for going soft on violators, shot off notices to Royal Hotel, a restaurant on the Sardar Mahal stretch, to stop construction work. The correspondence remains ignored.

    
The ASI prohibits construction work within 300 metres of the iconic monument, saying any excavation work or any structure coming up, might cause structural damage to the ancient building and also diminish its aesthetic beauty and appeal. 

In a similar incident, another construction site within the 200-metre prohibited zone hidden behind scaffolding and plastic sheets, brazenly carries the sign: “Due to renovation, shop shifted to Anees Plaza.” 
    
The sign even gives the numbers of the proprietors of the establishment, which shows either the owners are ignorant about laws or do not care about the ASI. 
    

Four shops belonging to three businessmen were demolished and excavation was carried out, paving the way for a brand new commercial complex in Lad Bazaar, again within the prohibited zone, ASI officials said. 
    
The demolished shops include that of Laxmichand and Ramnath Ranmchander Kasat. “We sent letters to Jani Miya, owner of premises number 20-4-1148, Muralidhar Kasat, owner of premises number 20-4-1146 and 20-4-1147 and Om Prakash, owner of premises number 20-4-1149. We even filed FIRs early this month with the police after they ignored our letters. But work is still continuing,” said an ASI official, requesting anonymity. Tourism dept fails to take action 

Similarly, a notice was served two months ago to one Mohammed Ghouse for carrying out excavation work again within the 200-metre prohibited zone. However, work has come to a halt here. 
    
While the tourism department has been promoting Charminar as a tourism destination to the delegates of UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), it too has failed to take any concrete steps for protecting the iconic monument. 
    
It was last week that minister of state for tourism K Chiranjeevi feigned ignorance about craters atop Charminar. 
    
As the blame-game continues with a crumbling Charminar in the backdrop, when and where does the buck stop, some citizens asked on Tuesday. Several attempts to contact the violators proved to be futile as none of them were willing to talk.

Works within Charminar precincts against the law
Constructions within the Charminar precincts are not new. Even the enforcers of law, the police department, have grossly violated stipulations laid down in the Archaeological Monuments and Ancient Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 2010, which bans any construction near the iconic structure. Worse, the police have also turned a blind eye to excavation work right under its nose. 
    
The AMASR Act of 2010 succinctly divides the areas around protected monuments into three zones, 100-metre protected, 200-metre prohibited and 300-metre regulated, and also defines ‘construction’ and ‘reconstruction’ to tackle resultant ambiguities. 

• Charminar police station: Charminar police constructed a wall only a few metres away from the 400-year old monument. While officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) served a show-cause notice to them, it was only after a high court public interest litigation (PIL) that construction came to a halt. Further, the HC refused to accept that Charminar police was carrying out repair work. 
• Bhagyalakshmi Temple: The temple issue courted controversy and even caused tension for weeks in the area after Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators protested the temple’s expansion. It was reported earlier in these columns that responding to an RTI query, the ASI declared the temple abutting the Charminar as an unauthorised structure. It also furnished copies of three photographs from its archives which showed that the temple was constructed post-1959. 
• Mahadev Mandir: The temple within the 100-metre protected zone and adjacent to the Charminar PS was concealed by tarpaulin sheets tied to scaffolding even as a cellar was excavated and high walls were constructed. The temple managing committee including member Ajay Kumar Agawam was dragged to HC by petitioners. It was on Dec. 6 last year that HC ordered the GHMC to stop the construction activity. However, work continued unrestrained till police stopped it on April 2. 
• Agra Sweets: In another attack on Charminar precincts earlier this month, construction work started without requisite permission on Agra Sweets premises, near the Sehr-e-Baatil Kaman, which is within the 200-metre prohibited zone. 

INN View: With scores of violations of the AMASR Act at the Charminar precincts, the ASI continues to remain a toothless body. It is high time the custodian of ancient monuments wakes up and takes swift and strict action against rule violators in conjunction with other departments such as the GHMC, police and the district collectorate. This is the only way that further deterioration of the Charminar, the symbol of the city, can be stopped.