Civil societies seek protection of Naya Qila

Oppose the establishment of golf club

Hyderabad: The Forum for Better Hyderabad and other civil society groups have sent a letter of protest to the Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao protesting against converting the precincts of Naya Qila at Golconda to a golf club.

It may be recalled that the 18-hole course golf club was inaugurated by the IT and Panchayat Raj Minister K T Ramarao on August 23.

The forum members, including its president M Vedakumar, heritage activist Sajjad Shahid, Kulsum Reddy of Apna Watan and Dr M Mandal of Hum Sub Hindustani pointed out that the Golconda Fort has a worldwide history as a heritage monument and Naya Qila was part of it. Converting it into golf club amounts to violation of rules, they said. The government which had hoisted the national flag at Golconda Fort, protected G-Block (Secretariat) and altered the Metro Rail plans for protecting historic monuments, should also protect the Naya Qila, they felt.

They said structures like Qutubshahi Gardens, Naya Qila Talab, Manju Burju, Mullah Kayali Mosque, Mustafa Khan Mosque, Syphon system water supply to fort, pipelines, chabutras were located in Naya Qila.

In 2002, government decided to utilise this Naya Qila as bird sanctuary. However, the Youth Advancement, Tourism & Culture decided to develop an 18-hole golf course and licenced it to Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA).

According to activists, the Naya Qila precinct is one of the most intact and undisturbed areas of the Golconda Fort making it a unique vestige of the past, which has the potential to yield crucial information leading to a better understanding of medieval history of the region.

Some of the violations of HGA include, demolition of the moat wall, lowering of the floor level of the tunnel to provide easy access, damaging ancient water channel network consisting of weirs, cisterns, cascades and storage tanks and changing of contours, they said.