Elevated road corridor in Patigadda to affect 1892 palace complex

The entrance gate of a palace built in 1892 in Hyderabad is getting ready to be destroyed as part of the road infrastructure project.

While only the front façade of the palace gate will be deleted, another iconic bastion that used to overlook the Hussainsagar lake will also be demolished for a project that will connect Necklace Road to the busy Rasoolpura Road.

Obaid ur Rehman, a Paigah descendant and descendant of Vicar ul Umra, who lives in the palace, says, “Civilian workers came and made markings after measuring the distance from the existing road. We will lose this gate. Why don’t they move the elevated corridor a little further in the open land and not damage the palace complex?”

Engineering plans show an elevated corridor starting at Rasoolpura, crossing Patigadda district and then passing over Sanjeevaiah Park MMTS station and merging with Necklace Road traffic.

The road over the bridge, first proposed in 2007, is expected to create an alternative to the Ranigunj and Somajiguda carriageway, improving connectivity between Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Beyond the Palace Gate, there is a bastion overlooking the eastern façade of the palace. It carries the red mark with a measurement of 17.6 meters.

“The bastion will be demolished as part of the road project. The other one is still there, on the western side. All countries preserve and value their heritage. We are the only ones who are gradually erasing it,” says Mr. Rehman, who plans to move the courtyards as the palace is listed as a Grade IIB heritage site as Devdi Nazir Nawaz Jung in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority’s list of heritage buildings.

The Telangana High Court had canceled the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi government’s plan to demolish Irram Manzil and build a new Assembly building in 2019. “The state cannot afford the luxury of forgetting that demolition of heritage buildings will deprive its people of the essence of their identity and the sense of uniqueness of the city,” the HC ruled.

Beyond the palace complex are residences that started as informal settlements. Mohammad Rafi, one of the affected residents, points to a three-storey building with a 16.6 m sign and says, “I will lose a shop because the road will curve here. That building will be completely demolished.”

Sanjeevaiah Park MMTS station has a 13.3-metre sign that will erase its existing façade. The facades of other houses will vary between 0.9 and 20.2 meters depending on location.

“In the 70s, I had a record of racing, touching the Charminar and returning to the palace in 14 minutes on my Jawa motorcycle. The population of the city has increased. They can still build the elevated corridor without damaging our collective heritage,” says Mr. Rehman.