HYDERABAD: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has requested State Director General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy to make arrangements for the removal of the barricaded police shed and a temporary room erected beside the Bhagyalaxmi temple, which abuts the Charminar, calling it an “eyesore to its glory”.
It is important to note that the ASI, time and again, has maintained that Bhagyalaxmi temple, too, is an encroachment.
In a recent letter addressed to DGP Reddy, Superintending Archaeologist of ASI-Hyderabad M K Chauley wrote: “The Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, who visited Charminar on September 8, 2018 noticed that a shed covered with plastic sheets used by the police and a temporary room erected with police barricades around and near the Bhagyalaxmi temple which is also an later (sic) and illegal construction, is an eyesore to monument’s glory.”
Chauley in his letter also noted that temporary structures that were erected during Bonalu by the police are now being used by the temple authorities to distribute prasad. “It is very surprising that police, the protector of heritage, is helping illegal expansion of illegal temple challenging the very structural and visual integrity of one of the most iconic monuments of the country,” Chauley added. Chauley asked DGP Reddy to give instructions to Charminar police officials to vacate the area, which falls under the jurisdiction of the ASI and remove the shed for the monument’s posterity.
Speaking to Express, a police official said: “Our superiors have already been intimated regarding the matter and we have identified an vacant room in front of the current place we are in. We would be soon shifting there.”