Hyderabad: Sorry state of King Kothi palace

King Koti: At a time when the Telangana government is keen in taking up restoration of heritage structures, the King Kothi Palace, the Nizami historical epicenter in the city, awaits its turn to get rejuvenated. A portion of the main entrance of the palace popularly called 'Purdah Gate' a landmark roof and wall collapsed on Monday revealing its red bricks.

A city-based historian Syed Meraj Nawab noticed that a roof made up of wooden completely came down breaking its all joints and fell on road. Earlier, in the recent heavy rains followed by floods, there was a similar damage.

Since 2018, a large number of heritage activists and citizens have been urging the Telangana government to take up the restoration works of King Kothi Palace, which needs urgent attention but till now they didn't receive any response from the government.

Agasthy Kantu, said, "Hyderabad has a habit of hiding its most beautiful heritage buildings behind high and ugly walls to ward off encroachers or simply because there is no appreciation of their significance – from the book 'The Last Nizam' and King Kothi Palace is an example for these lines."

Anuradha Reddy, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) convenor for the Hyderabad chapter, said, "The King Kohti Palace will bring much needed prosperity and associated development to the city, if it gets restored then it could be one of the tourist jewel."

Though several representations were made by the heritage activists but all in vain.

Recently, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) restored the Moazzam Jahi (MJ) Market, "We urge the Telangana government to protect the King Kothi the palace as it is in dilapidated condition and slowly falling down."

However, in 2018 the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department recruited a special officer in charge of heritage restoration, who asked the Hyderabadis to suggest which are other heritage structures that need to be restored, preserved and protected, while several representations were made by the citizens, historians and heritage activists but till now there has been no response from the concerned department.

History King Kothi Palace

Originally it was known as Devdi by its constructor and renowned architect late Kamal Khan, then it was acquired by the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan and it is said that the Nizam renamed the property from Nazri Bagh to King Kothi Palace.

The Nizam then inhabited the estate after his ascension to the throne in 1911, while his father stayed on at Chowmahalla Palace. Passers-by then carved 'KK' originally stood for Kamal Khan on the accessible walls of the palace, which irked its royal resident— after all why must the estate have the markings of its predecessor? He then passed a farmaan, or Royal Charter, to name the building as King Kothi or 'king's mansion.' The King Kothi Palace is a 2.5 lakh sq.ft. the property was the last official residence of the Nizam of Hyderabad wherein he died in 1967.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India visited King Kothi Palace.

The main entrance of the palace, popularly called the 'Purdah Gate,' is a landmark and it is erected at the western side houses the main King Kothi building as well as the Nazri Bagh residential building. This gate was covered by a curtain in the event the Nizam was present, now only the bare gate remains. It is always draped in a curtain even though the last Nizam left the palace many years ago.

Of the three principal buildings of the King Kothi complex, the main building (which now houses a hospital) and the Mubarak Mansion (Nazri Bagh) accommodates the offices of the Nizam's private estates (Sarf E Khas).

The Usman Mansion, the third building, was demolished in the 1980s, and in its place a new hospital building was constructed by the state government. There is a large amount of work to be done at King Kothi Palace. If one is to completely restore the palace, considering the once quoted value of the estate being Rs. 50 crores.