HYDERABAD: Rocks, big and small, used to be a part of Hyderabad’s heritage. However, they are fast disappearing. Lack of revenue generation for these heritage structures could be a reason behind the State government’s decision to give the go-ahead for the decimation of various natural rock formations for developmental projects, a senior government official has said.
In the past few years, the city has lost a considerable amount of its natural rock formations, most of it in Hitec City for various developmental projects. Recently, the Khajaguda Rock Formations was under the scanner after constructions were being undertaken as a part of it. The High Court directed the GHMC and HMDA to ensure that the boulders were not damaged.
Aesthetic apart, a rock formation does not generate any revenue, a government official said while stressing the need to commercialise and beautify such places. He opined that if beautification of such places are taken up on a PPP model, many visitors would be more than willing to visit the place.
Heritage activists have also maintained that these destructions happen because auctioning these rock formations are an easy way to make money for the government. While Madhapur is undergoing this change now, the rock formations in Jubilee Hills are scarcely seen nowadays. Most of the rock formations in Hyderabad are wiped out. Rock formations once destroyed are lost forever.
The lack of revenue generation is also a reason why the issue of heritage conservation is restricted to those belonging to the upper-income strata. “If a heritage site attracts more visitors, then it generates more business and opportunities for the locals,” the official said.
The official said that the way to go forward is to develop heritage precincts in such a way that it develops commerce for locals and for the government too. As of now, though Charminar and Golconda Fort generate a certain amount of revenue, but it is way behind when compared to the rest of the country.