Officials of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) on Monday surveyed the spot for which National Monuments Authority (NMA) has given a no-objection certificate (NOC) to a builder for developing luxury villas between the Golconda Fort and the Qutb Shahi tombs complex.
“I am surprised that the NMA has given the NOC even after knowing the importance of the 500-year-old site with a medieval stepwell, the aqueduct and sluice gate for flooding the moat. There must be other archaeological relics buried in the ground,” said Anuradha Reddy, convenor for Intach-Hyderabad chapter, who visited the site along with architects and volunteers.
Review sought
Meanwhile, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has written a letter demanding that the grant of NOC be reviewed. “The plot is within the proposed property for World Heritage Nomination. It seems incorrect for the NMA to have considered the 100-metre prohibited distance from the ramparts of the Golconda fortification rather than from the majestic moat that encircles Golconda at this location (sic),” says the letter by AKTC CEO Ratish Nanda on May 20.
The AKTC, which is restoring the Qutb Shahi Tombs complex, has raised several other objections to the NOC in the letter. The NMA gave the NOC to a builder to construct 54 three-storey villas on a land parcel that is a stone’s throw from the southern side of the Qutb Shahi tombs complex. It invoked the licence to construct the villas given by Archaeological Survey of India in 2008.
The ASI terms and conditions in 2008 included: “No heavy machines like JCBs etc. should be used during the construction at any time any place for any purpose within or outside the Golconda Fort.”
ASI terms tweaked
But even this condition has been changed by NMA to suit the builder: “No use of heavy machinery except JCB”. JCB is a generic word for earthmovers, while it happens to be a UK-based company that manufactures equipment for demolition, waste handling and construction.
“This development will have a major impact on whatever chances Hyderabad has of having a Unesco World Heritage Site nomination. It will destroy the most important historical connect that the two locations have. The visual connect will be lost too. This arbitrary decision will lead to other regularisations and complete ruin,” says city-based engineer and historian Sajjad Shahid.
Meanwhile, author William Dalrymple tweeted his dismay at the development: “Hyderabad continues to destroy its own heritage: Appalling news that 100 villas have been authorised between the Golconda Fort and Tombs. World Heritage Site tag may continue to elude Hyderabad (sic).”
