The Heritage Committee under Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) would visit all the heritage monuments in the city, in a bid to prepare a list and include them in Schedule II of the Telangana Heritage Act-2017.
GHMC Director (Town Planning) K. Srinivasa Rao said a total of 163 heritage monuments listed by the HMDA would have to be inspected before they are added to the schedule. These include structures of historical prominence that are over 100 years old, which display architectural significance and local importance.
Other monuments which would receive protection under the Act include eight monuments across the State listed by the Archaeological Survey of India, of which two – Charminar and Golconda Fort – are from Hyderabad.
The government was forced to bring the law, after NGOs and heritage activists cried fowl over the proposals to demolish structures of historical importance, owing to scrapping of a regulation that identified them as heritage buildings.
However, the Heritage Committee under the HMDA, which has designated them as heritage monuments, was not a statutory body, and had only recommendatory powers.
When the activists approached the High Court against the government order scrapping the regulation, the court had questioned the validity of the GO in the light of the fact that they were not protected under legal provisions, sources said.
Meanwhile, owing to lack of regulation, private owners of a few heritage structures had made use of the opportunity to demolish them for high real estate stakes, which led to more dissent from the activists. Realising the mistake, the government, which had earlier revealed its intentions to demolish Osmania General Hospital, and actually did that in the case of IAS Quarters for expansion of the Chief Minister’s camp office, decided to enact the law to protect heritage monuments.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao informed that the government has decided to take up repairs and restoration of heritage monuments, and renovation of Moazzamjahi Market and Murgi Chowk was a step in that direction.
Four more clock towers of historical importance are being taken up for development, after the ones at Mahbub Chowk and Moazzamjahi Market.
The four are at Rajarai Deodi at Shalibanda, Government High School at Sultan Bazaar, Monda Market and James Street, Secunderabad. There are a total of 13 clock towers in the city, which the government is planning to revive phase-wise.