If you look for Narendra Luther’s house at Rd 12 Banjara Hills in Google maps, you’ll see a dense patch of green. His house has the most greenery in the area. The house is built around a 25-ft-high rock. There are many rocks within the compound wall and he constructed his house without destroying a single one of them.
Narendra Luthra is the president of ‘The Society to Save Rocks’ in Hyderabad. The group organises rock walks, rock shows and rock seminars on ecology and environment conservation.
The rocks in Hyderabad stand a witness to 2,500 million years of history. In a move to accommodate the needs of the fast-growing city, many of these rocks have been cut and destroyed over the past few years. Hyderabad, a part of the Deccan plateau, is mostly comprised of hard crystalline rocks.
The government has listed a few of the rocks as ‘heritage rocks’ under the HUDA Zoning Regulations 1981. What qualifies as ‘heritage’ rocks? There are dargahs and temples on many of the rocks, which have been included in the heritage list. Apart from this, many other rocks come under the heritage list for their unique shape, height and size. For example, Mushroom Rock, Tortoise rock, Pathar Dil and others, which get the names after their unique shape.
No rock listed as heritage can be cut. Also, all development, building and layout permissions have to be referred to the Municipal Commissioner, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and the Heritage Conservation Committee. No mining activity is permitted here. Still, heritage rocks have been cut to make way for urbanisation. Padmini Patell, a member of the Society to Save Rocks, Hyderabad, says a water tank is being built by the water board at one of the heritage rocks near Allahbanda in the city. The colony nearby is pressed for drinking water and hence the government had to take this step. “We understand that the locals need potable water, but this could have been done without harming the heritage rock. There are other rocks in the place which could have been used for the purpose. Also, the pipes could have been connected externally instead of affecting the heritage rock,” says Patell.
There are a few architects in the city who strongly believe that construction can be done without destroying the rock formations. Sridhaar Gopi Setty, chief architect and managing director of Team 1 India, is the architect for the new Anti-Corruption Bureau building in Road 2, Banjara Hills. He has been successful in building it attractively without destroying the rock formations in the compound. Though initially there were apprehensions from the bureaucrats about retaining the rock, the outcome was beautiful.
