HYDERABAD: History came crumbling down when the demolition of 132-year-old Saifabad Palace, which formed the G Block of the Secretariat, began on Tuesday. Heritage activist Sajjad Shahid says that there have been numerous attempts to demolish it earlier. In the 1980s, during the regime of NT Rama Rao, a team of JNTUH engineers had declared that the palace was unstable and that it would collapse.
Around 2011-2012, there was another court case regarding the same. The HC directed the then State government to take the advice of the Heritage Conservation Committee in this regard. The HCC had advised against it. When the Governor’s rule was implemented during the creation of Telangana, there was another attempt to demolish the building, says Sajjad.
“An expert from Rajasthan was brought in to assess the building. However, he declared that the palace was strong and that it should be preserved.” Apart from that, the ageold stone structure, Mint Compound, which housed the power department offices was also razed. Constructed over a 100 years ago, it was earlier known as the Osmania Technical College. In the 1940s, the building was taken over by the electricity board of Andhra Pradesh.