HYDERABAD: The roof of 154-year-old Anglo Vernacular school, now known as Sultan Bazar Government Boys School at Sultan Bazar collapsed during the wee hours on Thursday.
According to the school principal, Shivram Prasad, the building was abandoned in 2016 after a new building was constructed for school children. However, children still had to walk under the cement sheet roof to reach the toilets, which are located on the other side of the heritage building.
Heritage Activist, Anuradha Reddy, said the building, an architectural marvel, was under utter desolation due to sheer neglect by the authorities. In November 2019, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation
(GHMC) joined a walk along with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) members to see if the building can be restored. "GHMC took no action was taken thereafter," said Anuradha Reddy, who is also the state convenor of INTACH.
A few months ago when The New Indian Express visited the site, the roof of the building was in place, while the other portions of the building, which included ceilings and walls of rooms (then, classrooms) on either side of the main hall (whose roof has collapsed), had collapsed and few that remained damp, dilapidated were falling apart with the progressing time.
'Marmaduke Pickthall' an Englishman was the first principal of the ‘Chudderghat Anglo Vernacular School’ which was constructed, according to the inaugural stone in the year 1866. Sultan Bazar clock tower, with which the school building shares its compound wall was constructed in the year 1865.
According to INTACH convener, the structure will be inspected soon. "We will inspect the structure and see if it can be restored. If restored, it can be converted into a hall for school children."