The 216-year-old jail in the district headquarters is set to entice visitors as it would soon be made a tourist hotspot. Efforts are on by the district administration along with the support of Director General of Prisons V.K. Singh to turn one of the oldest prisons in Telangana into a museum.
Built in 1796 by the Nizams, the jail was initially a cavalry barrack. However, information on when it was turned into a prison is not available and officials are on it to connect dots and get the entire chronology right.
During the Nizams’ rule, tahsildars, darogas (three-star rank police officers), ameens (two-star rank officers) and dafedars looked after the jail with collector being the in-charge of affairs. Later for some time, the prison was managed by the Medical Department and Judiciary before it was taken over by the Jails Department in 1978. With the jail’s capacity being 90 male and five female prisoners, it was shifted to a new jail at Kandi which had sufficient place to house all the offenders.
Apart from the regular offenders, the old jail had those who fought for country’s freedom as well as those who fought against the Nizam rule. Gadila Lingamaiah Goud was one of those prisoners who served his term from 1947- 48. He was shifted to Chanchalguda and later to Gulbarga prison. He was released before the commencement of the Operation Polo, a military operation to overthrow the Nizam and annex the State of Hyderabad to India.
The administration now wants to showcase the historical importance of the place by developing it as a tourist spot. As part of the efforts, repair works have been taken up with the help of prisoners from Chanchalguda jail. The officials have also sent a proposal to the State government to take up repair works at a cost of Rs. 14 lakh. Once the works are completed, the officials plan to exhibit pictures pertaining to jail life, the freedom struggle, the armed revolution against the Nizam and the culture of Telangana. “We are roping in experts from Salar Jung Museum for the task. The curator of the museum, Ahammad, had alredy visited the jail,” Santosh Kumar Roy, Deputy Superintendent, told The Hindu .
The old prison would be ready for visitors in the beginning of the next year, though officials have set a target to complete it in the next two months.
