Tolichowki: Custodian of Hyderabad’s history

Tolichowki: Custodian of Hyderabad’s history
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Highlights

Tolichowki is a major suburb in the city. It is close to the IT corridor including Hitec City, Gachibowli, Madhapur, Manikonda and Kondapur. Hence it’s a preferred residential area for software professionals.

Tolichowki is a major suburb in the city. It is close to the IT corridor including Hitec City, Gachibowli, Madhapur, Manikonda and Kondapur. Hence it’s a preferred residential area for software professionals. The area has seen significant growth in commercial activities. Maphar Constructions, a well known developer in the city, has started work on a world class shopping mall. This project aims to bring big international brands of clothing, home appliances, jewellery shops and fine dining restaurants under one roof. The area is famous for mouthwatering eateries too. The New Rumaan Hotel at the Tolichowki Chowrastha is famous for its chai. Other prominent centres include Kaabah Hospital, Reliance Auto, Vijaya Diagnostics and Kashish. Tolichowki houses residential colonies like MD Lines, Nizam Colony, Al-Hasnat Colony, Janaki Nagar Colony, Meraj colony, Samata Colony, Azeez Bagh Colony , P&T colony, Surya Nagar Colony, Brindavan Colony, Salarjung Colony and Kakatiyanagar.

View of the Tolichowki Junction

History

Tolichowki gets its name from the Urdu word ‘Toli’ which means troupe and ‘Chowki’ which means post. The area is located northeast from the Golconda Fort. The fort had flourishing trade links with kingdoms from far and wide and traders used to visit the Golconda Fort regularly. The toll gate at the entrance of the fort was of much of importance during the reign of Qutub Shahis. The traders used to pay toli or damri as tax at the chowki. Over a period of time, the chowki where toll was collected came to be popularly known as Tolichowki.

Till today, there are many historical mosques, tombs and other monuments in Tolichowki from the Qutub Shahi period. An example is the Toli masjid. It lies to the south east of the fort, which dates back to 1671 AD when King Abdullah ruled the kingdom. An inscription on Toli Masjid site says that it was built by Mosa Khan, a chamberlain of the king. It is said that Mosa Khan was allowed to collect one damri on each rupee during the construction of Mecca Masjid.

Rumaan Hotel is one of the landmark locations in the locality

Near the Tolichowki junction there is a famous darga of Hazarth Syed Tajuddin Najafi (from Kohir Sharif) who was the son of Ismail Najafi. It was built in 1915. There is also a Durga temple in the middle of the road. Yousuff Tekhidi, an old palace during the Nizam’s rule is a heritage structure where many film have been shot.

Problems

Dr Naiz Khan, a local resident and director of a pharmaceutical, said, “It was a jungle back in the 1970s. Since the 1990s, there has been massive development. Currently, there is a dire need to widen the roads to ensure free flow of traffic. There is also no government hospital in the area.”

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