HYDERABAD: With numerous scaffolds erected alongside, Hyderabad’s famed Charminar and Golconda forts are cutting a rather sorry picture these days. There is a reason, sources claim. The conservation works undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) were forced to be stalled after its headquarters in New Delhi stopped sending funds since the last two months.
The last funds came in for the month of October. Since then, despite numerous requests, no new funds have come in. “They keep saying that they will send the funds. However, there has been nothing,” a source said. The ASI, which employs scores of workers for conservation purposes across the State, stopped the works after it realised that it wouldn’t be able to accomodate them any more.
The only works still going on in the State are that of small projects that have been outsourced to contractors. For instance, the construction of a pathway at the Warangal Fort has been outsourced to a private firm. As of now, the ASI apparently only has the funds to pay the electricity bill for the monuments. “This has been going on across the entire country for some time,” a source claims. A few opined that the funds were stopped in connection with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
At least five conservation works at Golconda, four projects at Warangal Fort, three at Ramappa Temple, two at Thousand Pillar Temple in Hanamkonda and another two at the temple town of Alampur lie unattended. The ASI have been vying for the much-coveted World Heritage tag for many of its monuments here in Telangana. However, with the situation being such, it remains to be seen how it reaches the aim.
Police removes its own encroachment from Charminar
Hyderabad: Complying to a letter by the Archaeological Survey of India to the State Director General of Police Mahendar Reddy, the State Police recently removed its illegal structures that were erected along the Charminar. The move came after New Indian Express published an article titled, “Free Charminar from encroachment: ASI sends gentle reminder to DGP” on October 31, 2018.
The encroachments by the police included a barricaded police shed and a temporary room erected during Bonalu, beside the Bhagyalakshmi Temple. The latter, Superintending Archaeologist of ASI-Hyderabad M K Chauley noted in his letter to DGP Reddy, was being used by the temple authorities to distribute prasad