ASI fortifies visitor safety at Charminar

Iron barricades erected between the pillars of the historical monument

Safety first The protective iron barricades on the first floor of Charminar.

The Archaeological Survey of India has bolstered visitor safety at Charminar by adding protective barricades without harming the monument.

The three-foot iron barricades in peach colour are wedged in the space between the pillars on the first floor from where visitors have a bird’s eye view of the city. Only small wooden wedges have been used to fix the barricades in the space without using nails or any other intervention.

“Earlier, we had these moveable wooden pillars with chains to stop people from going to the edge of the wall. But, when people have a cellphone or a camera they don’t care about their surroundings. Many of them would move them and stand on the edge of the wall endangering their lives. This prevents them from doing anything of that sort,” informed an ASI official on the spot. “While work on the barricades is nearly over, we are working on getting latches at the entrance and exit,” the official added.

The Charminar has a troubled history of suicides, which at one point in time forced officials to stop people from climbing the monument for nearly 24 years between 1984 and 2000. In 2009, a girl died after being pushed from the monument.

Constant vigil

“These iron barricades are better than the old chains. But some people are sitting on them while posing for photographs. We have to constantly be on the alert,” said a security guard.

Visitor experience has improved dramatically at Charminar after officials added signage giving correct information at multiple locations on the monument. As tourists peer out of the western arch with Golconda at the distance and the Laad Bazaar street, they can read signage.

The myth-busting signage informs about the origin of the word Laad Bazaar, that of the material ‘lac’ which is still used for making the shiny bangles with encrustations of coloured stones.