Serious questions arise as chunk of Charminar come crashing down
Incident created fear and panic among those present, though no injuries were reported
Hyderabad: The four hundred year old historic monument of Hyderabad city, suffering serious damages, was driven home with a chunk of one of the four minarets falling late on Wednesday night.
The incident created fear and panic among those present, even though no injuries were reported. The stucco-work with limestone was part of the renovation and repair taken up by the Archaeological Survey of India, the central government organisation.
As news of the incident spread, many pedestrians started rushing to have a look, prompting the police to swing into action and impose restrictions on the movement around the monument.
Assistant Commissioner of police, G Naganna, said that ASI officials responsible for the upkeep of the monument were immediately alerted about the matter. “The piece which fell down was part of the carving done as part of the ongoing renovation work”, he said.
The incident occurred when officials prohibited vehicular movement around the monument as part of the pedestrianization project.
The project was taken up after several experts and conservationists warned that heavy vehicular traffic was damaging the foundation of Charminar and the acidic impact of pollutants in the air were leaving dark patches, discolouring the building.
Charminar, built in 1591 by Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah, founder of Hyderabad city, is a unique building for its rectangular shape and arches on all sides. Historians believed that the monument was built on a cross road, as a gateway into the city of Golconda and also as a thanksgiving for the end of a deadly plague.
With ASI in charge for its maintenance, the monument fell on hard times, with official machinery completely neglecting it for decades.
The latest incident has raised serious questions about the stability and safety of the building, a huge attraction for hundreds of thousands of foreign and domestic tourists.
