Workers digging the road for a sewage line found another ‘surang bavi’ or ‘karez’ channel behind the Bal Bhavan here on Wednesday. The underground drinking water ducts were built by the Bahmani kings between the 14th century and 15th century.
Experts have identified a network of six such lines around the fort city. Wednesday’s discovery is the seventh line.
Workers attached to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation were digging a trench in the middle of the road to lay a box drain. One of them noticed a nine-sq. ft deep well with an arch over it. It has plenty of water just 20 ft below the ground. “We stopped the work and informed Deputy Commissioner Anurag Tewari,” officials said.
“It looks like the channel stretches from the Jail Colony in the south east towards the fort,” Sabeesh Dande, a member of Team Yuva, a non-governmental organisation that is mapping the ‘surangs’, said. “A foot map will be prepared soon,” he said.
“This proves the hypothesis that the ‘surang bavis’ are spread all over the city,” Govindan Kutty, researcher from Kerala University who identified the first ‘surang’ channel in Naubad in 2010, said.
“We have to implement our urban development plans without damaging these historic structures. We should also realise that protecting them will yield unlimited supply of water,” he said.
“In a sense, Bidar is sitting on a gold mine of sweet drinking water. We will strive to conserve these structures,” Mr. Tewari said.
“Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande announced a grant of Rs. 3 crore for cleaning, dredging and beautification of the ‘surang bavi’ system last year. Cleaning of around 2 km of the 3.3-km Naubad ‘surang’ was completed after around 90 labourers worked for a year. Sharat Kumar and other consultants from Deccan Heritage Foundation and Indian Heritage Cities Network have prepared a comprehensive plan for beautification,” he said.
A team of experts from IIT Hyderabad will visit the ‘surang’ to suggest ways to strengthen it from the inside, Mr. Tewari added.
