Pahadishareef ramp to ease woes of pilgrims

Pahadishareef: One of the city's famous hilltop shrines, Dargah Pahadishareef will ease the burden of pilgrims and they can reach it without much effort, thanks to the ramp being constructed with an estimated cost of around Rs 10 crore.

Even vehicles can reach the top sections of the hillock, for conducting ziyarath (pilgrimage) of 13th Century saint Hazrath Baba Sharfuddin Soharvardi. It is located on the Srisailam Highway and is in close proximity to RGI Airport.

According to the offic M M Farooquiials of TS Wakf Board, to ease the hardships of pilgrims who find difficulty to climb some 360 steps to reach the hilltop, the works of CC ramp were sanctioned more than a year back. Initially with estimates of Rs 9.6 crore, it was decided to take up the works. The government allotted the works to the TSEWIDC (Telangana State Education Women and Infrastructure Development Corporation) and by a tender process to Mahima Constructions.

The works were started last year, but they were delayed due to several difficulties like change in the plan, owing to huge rocks that came in way. Now the hurdles are removed and works would be completed soon, said Mohammed Munnawar, Executive Officer, TSWB.

TSEWIDC Executive Engineer P Srinivas Rao said works on the CC ramp track connecting the road near Pahadishareef police station to the hilltop resumed around 4 months back. Explaining about the construction, he said that the ramp's length was 690 meters from bottom to the hilltop, with a width of 11 meters.

A parking area of about an acre is also provided for the pilgrims near the hilltop. An amount of 1.4 crore was released for the works sanctioned earlier and Rs 1 crore was provided by the Wakf Board on Monday. The works are scheduled to be completed by March-end, he added.

According to the Dargah's custodian Peerzada Syed Moinuddin, pilgrims, particularly the elderly, find it difficult to climb 360 steps to reach hilltop and perform ziyarath. For the easing this, the project was sanctioned by government after AIMIM Floor Leader and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi pursued the matter regularly.

On an average, daily around 300 pilgrims will climb hilltop to perform ziyarath and the number nearly doubles on weekends. But many elderly could not reach the hilltop to perform ziyarath. If the ramp is constructed there will be a four-fold increase in the number of pilgrims.

History

The saint Hazrath Syedna Baba Sharfuddin Saheb Qibla Soharvardi (Pahadi Shareef), generally referred to as 'Shaheensha-e-Deccan' or 'Sultan-ul-Arefeen,' is said to be the first saint who came from Baghdad to Hyderabad to spread Islam along with his 40 Motaqids (disciples). He was among the first two great Sufi Saints who had landed in India for preaching and propagation of Islam, as per the instructions of the Prophet Mohammed. He is considered to be next only to Hazrath Khaja Moinuddin Chisti (Ajmer).

Born on 16th Shaban in the year 586 Hijri (1190 AD) in Iraq, as per the historical records and as per reference from the book of 'Peer Mughan,' he landed in India directly from Iraq in the year 631 Hijri (1234 AD) when he was 45 years. He arrived in India during the period of Bahmani Kingdom of Deccan and for a period of nine years he was busy preaching and propagating the religion in the North Indian region. He reached the Deccan (South India) in the year 640 Hijri when he was 54 years old. As he spent 11 days before leaving for the hilltop last time at Balapur, his sandal procession is annually taken out from the area to Dargah on hillock.