An uphill battle against trash in Golconda Fort

There was a fire on the upper reaches of the monument on Wednesday evening

The site of the fire in Golconda Fort shows the challenge with dry grass, undulating terrain and littering by tourists. | Photo Credit: Serish Nanisetti

On Wednesday evening, citizens walking on their terraces in the western part of the city saw a fire.

Coming from the upper reaches of the Golconda Fort, the blaze could be seen from quite a distance.

“The fire was put out after we created a barrier between the burning grass and trash,” reported a security guard who was present at the location.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The ground where the grass and trash created the big fire has been cleaned, but the problem remains. The inner fortification of the 400-year-old Golconda Fort, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Hyderabad, is fighting an uphill battle against the mountain of garbage left behind by visitors. 

The trash ranges from tin cans, plastic bottles, wrappers to discarded diapers and sanitary pads.

While the canteen near the Bala Hissar has been shut down due to the COVID-19 downturn, only water bottles are now available for a price there. The tourists who shout and clap at the clapping portico discard water bottles once they reach the top at 600 metres above sea level.

“I make five trips a day to bring the trash down. I am not the only one. There are others who collect an equal amount of trash,” says a sanitary worker, pausing on his way down with a huge bag of trash.

According to an ASI official, there are 30 sanitary workers who work in shifts to keep the place clean.

“We collect the bottles and packet covers and bring them down and within no time another load of trash is thrown by the visitors,” says a sanitation worker who has been working at the site for a decade.

The Golconda Fort is visited by about 2000-3000 people in a span of a few hours. On weekends and holidays, the numbers go up, and so does the trash.

To be fair, the inner part of the Golconda Fort is a vast walled complex spread over dozens of acres of land with palatial ruins in the lower parts scattered rock formations, deep step wells, bastions, cannon parks, masjids and a temple. Keeping an eye on visitors who are on a hunt for exclusive selfie spots is an arduous task. The bastion overlooking ‘Ramdas Bandikhana’ has been blocked.

“Last year, one person fell to his death while clicking a selfie. After that we are not allowing people to reach this place,” says a guard at the barricaded bastion. The ASI now plans to install about 50 CCTV cameras to monitor the place but the undulating terrain and the rocky landscape is proving to be a challenge.