Hyderabad: In another case of state apathy, the baoli (stepwell) lies in the centuries-old Saidanima tomb on the Hussain Sagar or Tank Bund road due to neglect and lack of maintenance for years. The Maqbara or the tomb of the Lady Sufi saint has a large fenced-in area, most of which is also believed to have been overrun by local business people.
A visit to the tomb of Saidanima by this reporter showed that the Baoli had not only been used for years, but that it needed repairs. The staircase itself is damaged to such an extent that one cannot even go inside to look at the building. At first glance, it seems as if the shops in the tomb complex (which sells wood) were scrapping and burning wood material in the baoli itself.
Except for the main burial ground, the rest of the complex is clearly preyed upon, as is the case with many historic Waqf properties in Hyderabad and Telangana. Syed Meraj Ahmed, a descendant of Saida-bi-Ma Sahiba, known as Saidanima, said the Dargah complex had been in a very bad condition for more than a decade. “The baoli used was previously used for the maintenance of the place, but it is in a bad condition,” he said. siasat.com.
Meraj Ahmed further claimed that the current Mutawalli or the caretaker of the place has asserted himself in the position by falsifying documents and submitting them to the Waqf board. He is currently fighting a legal battle against the caretaker of the grave in the Waqf tribunal. ‘The place is officially’ Maqbara Hazrat Abdul Haq ‘and is registered with the name in the register of the Waqf council. It is approximately 10 289 square meters in size, ”he said.
To some extent, however, Arvind Kumar, general secretary (municipal administration and urban development), tweeted last month that he would look into restoring the baoli. Kumar responded to Mehraj’s tweet after the latter published about the baoli’s pathetic condition.
Who was Saidanima?
The tomb of Saidanima was built by Sardar Abdul Haq, who also bore the title Diler Jang (1853–1896). Originally from Bombay Province (ruled by the British Crown), he gained notoriety in the late nineteenth-century state of Hyderabad. Jang became the prince’s interior secretary and then changed course to become director of Nizam’s State Railways in 1885.
In this capacity he also travels to England. Jang eventually built a tomb in memory of his mother, Saidanima, located on the north side of the Hussain Sagar Reserve Road, en route to Secunderabad. It is somewhat isolated from most historical monuments, and is a historical monument that often goes unnoticed unless one stops for a few seconds and notices his / her surroundings.
The onion-shaped dome of the structure placed over an octagonal base indicates the tomb, shows Sibgatullah Khan, an architecture student of the city who runs Deccan Archive. He pointed out that panels of geometrically cut plaster stand between the lobed arches, resting on double baluster columns. The upper chamber of the monument has arches that are clearly drawn from the Qutb Shahi era, while the arches on the ground floor are apparently of Mughal inspiration.
The former state of Hyderabad, led by the Nizams of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, lasted from 1724 to 1948. It had seven rulers, with the last one being Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh in line, giving his princely state to India. had annexed in 1948, more than a year after independence.
Source: The Siasat Daily