The 116-year-old Ramgopalpet police station, which is in a dilapidated condition, is one among the city’s many heritage structures which are in need of repairs. A few days ago, the GHMC had asked the police officials to vacate it. Perhaps, the solution to the problem lies in another heritage structure a few buildings away, which incidentally belongs to the same person who helped construct the historic police station.
Walk down for half a minute from the Ramgopalpet PS (formerly known as James Street PS) at M. G. Road, and you can find two similar looking heritage structures beside each other. While one of them is dilapidated, the other, with a bright red and cream façade, is hard to miss. The latter was the residence of Seth Ram Gopal, who built it 110 years ago. He had donated money to build the historic Ramgopalpet PS, which is named after him, and also for the clock installed in it. “I wanted to see the ancestral house as it was and so we decided to restore the front portion. The rear portion, however, is dilapidated, but we have plans to restore that as well,” said 84-year-old Hari Kishan Malani, one of the descendants of Seth Ram Gopal. He and his73-year-old brother Ramesh Chand Malani said that the heritage building is almost as it once was.
In the first half of 2016, the Malani family spent close to Rs. 25 lakh to restore their ancestral building, for which they sourced lime stone all the way from Tamil Nadu. “We even got two different types of tiles specifically, apart from the wood,” said Bharat Malani, son of Mr. Hari Kishan. The work was undertaken by architect Anand Sagar.
Currently, the Seth Ram Gopal building is being used as an office by the Malani family, which resides at East Marredpally. In the past, Seth Ram Gopal himself used to stay in the ground floor and would use the upper portion as as his office. But after his demise in 1923, his son Seth Laxmi Narayan shifted to East Marredpally, which was then a suburb, said Mr. Ramesh Chand.
Anuradha Reddy, convenor, Indian National Trust for Culture and Heritage (INTACH), said that the Seth Ram Gopal building is a typical old-age Rajasthani construction. “It is a combination of the vernacular and Rajasthani architecture,” she added. Mr. Bharat also added that the original woodwork and stained glass in the building has also been restored.
“It has been raining from so many days, but not a single drop of water has seeped in from the roof,” pointed out Mr. Hari Kishan.
Who was Seth Ram Gopal:
Born in Rajasthan, Seth Ram Gopal came to Hyderabad later and used to reside at Bollarum initially. He used to change the Hyderabad Sikka and British Rupee currencies locally to earn money, apart from running other simple businesses, said Mr. Ramesh Chand.
Seth Ram Gopal’s life changed after a chance meeting with the then British Resident, who used to stay at the Bollarum Residency building.
