HYDERABAD: A recent survey-cum-scan of Charminar by a private firm was reportedly not satisfactory for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Archaeologists at ASI have said that they will be waiting for a retest before taking further decision on the matter.
Speaking to Express, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI-Hyderabad Milan Kumar Chauley said: “The test was only conducted on the damaged portion of the south-east minaret. So the results only talk about the quality of the portion we already know is damaged, when the idea was to know about the condition of the surrounding areas.”
The report submitted to the ASI on Wednesday showed how gaps had formed between various layers of the damaged portion. This could not be considered true for the rest of the monument, over which no such tests have been done. Chauley said that the ASI had recommended Terra Drone India to conduct a retest. In turn, Terra Drone confirmed to Express that they would soon take a decision on when the retest would be conducted.
Earlier in the month, Terra Drone India had conducted an ultrasonic pulse velocity testing to assess the strength and quality of the structure. It also prepared an RGB 3D model of the damaged south-east minaret, in addition to a thermal scan to identify the differences in temperature in that area. The company had also conducted a LiDAR 3D profiling and model generation test, which uses light to measure ranges.