HYDERABAD: The usage of fog bombs and crackers by wedding photographers at heritage sites such as Taramati Baradari has defaced its walls with burn marks and ugly patches of ash. The Tourism Department, on being appraised of the matter, issued a strict diktat to security guards to not allow crackers into the site. In the coming days, they predict that many would come into the park with crackers ahead of Diwali.
The issue was highlighted by cultural curator Haseeb Jafferi. He said, “Taramati Baradari is in a sad state with cement patch works and use of fire/fog crackers used for pre-wedding photoshoots by photographers.”
These fog crackers are used by photographers to create special effects and snazz up a photograph. However, as pointed out by Jafferi, care is not being taken when these crackers are lit, and ends up damaging heritage structures such as Taramati Baradari, which is a historical sarai and Ibrahim Bagh, a garden built during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, the fourth sultan of Golconda.
A visit to the area would show the place strewn with leftover wrappers of such crackers and burn marks on select portions of the structure. A TS Tourism official said, “We take vandalisation of heritage sites very seriously. Rest assured we have put in place strict measures to ensure that this won’t happen again.”