A petition is being hosted on change.org, which has been signed by thousands of people to save the structure but it is falling on deaf ears.
I remember visiting the palace a couple of years ago. While I noticed that the government wasn’t doing much for its repairs it did run some government offices in the approx. 150 rooms that the palace houses. I stepped inside and I immediately noticed how cool it was despite the sweltering heat outside. I took cherished photos with the grandiose palace as my backdrop.
This is something that my children would most likely never be able to do as it would be razed by then and in its place would be a 100 crore modern structure that says nothing about the city’s rich history. And, more importantly, would have nothing for tourists to whom we love to show our celebrated history.
A delegation by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) inspected the building found it to be structurally fit.
Intach even suggested that the heritage features of the structure are worthy of retention and that the state government adopt a proposal to reuse the building.
Where else in the world would they even think of doing such? We all need to raise awareness and put pressure on the Telangana government so that they drop this idea. We are not against building a new legislature in whichever way KCR and his team of astrologers want; we just don’t want it to be at the price of losing a part of our history forever.
This article was first featured in Counter Currents.
