The Aga Khan Trust for Culture is set to withdraw from the Qutb Shahi Tombs restoration and conservation project in Hyderabad it handled for the past decade and where the present MoU expires in January 2022.
“For 10 years now, over 42 cases/ IA's have been filed by the same advocate representing the same seven petitioners residents of within Golconda Fort - all people with no expertise. The allegations made are baseless - including destruction of the very monuments we have set out to conserve. Under such circumstances it is not possible to continue to undertake these challenging conservation efforts,” said Ratish Nanda, CEO, Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
The last straw was the order by the Telangana High Court not to vacate the stay on interpretation centre being developed within Deccan Park in lieu of demolished banquet hall and swimming pool.
The Qutb Shahi Tombs have been conserved to international acclaim using practices that the AKTC has been using while working on sites like Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, Sundar Nursery, Bagh-a-Babur in Kabul, and other well known monuments and sites. Under the watch and care of AKTC, the complex, known locally as seven tombs, expanded to include the baolis (wells), serai, funerary mosques and discovery of pre-Mughal symmetrical landscaping practices. The AKTC was in the process of restoring the enamel tile work that covered the tomb of Muhammad Sultan’s tomb before it was lost.
The Qutb Shahi Tombs complex is a medieval necropolis at the foothills of the Golconda Fort where all the rulers of the dynasty (1518-1687) except the last one is buried. From 2010, it is on the tentative list for the World Heritage Site status.
"Repeatedly the Wakf Tribunal has ordered to discontinue works - causing hardship and much loss. While one court urges care and concern for monuments, another is dismissive of the country's largest conservation effort. Some of the government respondents - the Wakf Board, the Quli Qutb Shah Urban Development Authority - have made no serious effort to counter false allegations. There is no way forward,” said Mr. Nanda about the distinct possibility of them having to walk away from this major conservation project in Hyderabad.
