KCR's plan to raze monument faces resistance

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s plan to raze a historical monument to build a state-of-the-art Assembly building is drawing flak from different sections of the society. The foundation for the elevated new Assembly building is slated for next week and the authorities are on the job.

The first salvo was fired by the legal heirs of Nawab Fakhrul Mulk, who had built and owned the Errum Manzil palace. Fakhrul Mulk's family started an online petition in addition to a petition launched by INTACH.

The Nawab Fakhrul Mulk Bahadur Legal Heirs Association, in a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, also sought the heritage monument status to the palace.

“Legal heirs of Late Nawab Fakhrul Mulk Bahadur humbly beg to spare this magnificent structure the Errum Manzil Palace from demolition. Instead, kindly accord this landmark architecture as a heritage monument failing which an important milestone in the history of Hyderabad will be buried,” wrote Secretary of the association Nawab Shafath Ali Khan in a letter dated 20 June.

"Errum Manzil is a historical monument wherein top British dignitaries including the Viceroy of India had visited the palace. It is also submitted that this beautiful structure is very much part of Hyderabad's history, culture, and the heritage," he said.

People living in the area feel that they would be displaced from the place where they had been living for generations and traffic will increase four-fold.

The Errum Manzil is a stone structure built in 1870. The whole stretch from the Manzil which now hosts the Irrigation Department to the Chest Hospital was owned by the Nawab.

Previous attempts to demolish the hospital and build a state secretariat were opposed from the representatives of the Nawab and several social activists calling it a waste of public money, which forced the government to drop the idea.

The Chief Minister who has a strong belief in rituals and vastu is keen to lay the foundation for the new structure before the end of this month, as there are no auspicious muhurats for the next few months after 2 July.