The charming minarets of Hyderabad
Hyderabad is known as the city of Nizams. The last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan died in 1967 but the Asaf Jah dynasty left behind a glorious history and wonderful monuments in Indo-Islamic style architecture. Such is the magnificence of the monuments in the city that Hyderabad was given the Best Heritage City tag in 2012.
The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) protects six major monuments and temple complexes in Telangana that include Golconda Fort, Charminar, Alampur Temples, Warangal Fort, Thousand Pillar Temple and Ramappa Temple. The State Department for Archaeology and Museums of Telangana which was renamed Heritage Telangana looks after the other monuments in the city.
Sadly, the Telangana government reduced the budget allocation from ₹1.82 lakh cr to ₹1.46 lakh cr for the protection of heritage structures. There is a need to preserve and restore these structures not only for their historical importance but also to understand various societies and traditions that prevailed in different era. They also help us observe changes and reflect the amount of development come about overtime.
Apart from Golconda Fort and Charminar, there are several heritage structures that one can see in Hyderabad that reflect a glorious past such as Paigah Tombs, Qutb Shahi tombs, Mahlaqa Chanda Bai tomb, the Durbar Hall inside Koti Women’s College to name a few.
The least we can do is to avoid scratching or scrawling on the walls, spreading awareness about its prestige and delicacy of these structures and not spitting and defacing the structures.
