yeh humara shehar alwal

A rest house since the time of Nizams

Alwal is a major residential suburb of Secunderabad. It has a population of 2,40,000 ( as per 2011 census) and is 8 km away from Secunderabad Railway Station and almost 50 km from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The Alwal Railway Station was built during the British era. MMTS trains stop at the station. RTC buses connect Alwal to all parts of the city. The locality has over 50 Resi¬dent Welfare Associations.

Alwal is a major shopping hub for many suburbs and villages. It has many shopping malls like Reliance Fresh, Spencer's Shopping Mall and More. There is an e-seva centre and Rythu bazaar adjacent to the Alwal Railway Station. Lakshmikala Mandir, Nartaki Theatre, Select Talkies are some of the theatres in the area. Alwal also has a Model Police Station which falls under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits.

Many multi-specialty hospitals such as Oxygen Hospital, Prashamsha Maternity Hospital, Nisha's Dental Hospital, GNR Hospital, Raksha Medinostics and Gandhi Gyan Mandir Yoga Center is located at Old Alwal. The place is also home to some of famous schools like St Ann's High School, Bolaram, which was set up in 1876 by a group of nuns from Italy, Little Flower High School, Bethany Academy, Pallavi High School, Brilliant Grammar High School, Gowtham Model School, Valerian Grammar High School, Loyola Public School, Model Mission High School, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Triveni Talent School.

Schools like Abacus Alphabet, Vivek, The Kidz, ABC Montessori, Sri Sai Vidya Deep, Bachpan, Triveni Talent School and many others have established their presence here. There are many colleges in Alwal such as Loyola Academy, LRMG Junior College, St. Ann's Junior College, Swarnandhra Junior College, Vandana Junior & Degree College, Sri Chaitanya Junior College and Narayana Junior College.

Prominent people from Alwal include noted director and screenwriter Shyam Benegal who was born here, director B Narsing Rao, balladeer Gaddar, model and actor Sreedhar Rao and former Mayor Vasu Banda Karthika Reddy.

History

Alwal was a prime area under the British Cantonment. It derived its name after ‘alvars’ who were Tamil poets, the proponents of Bhakti movement and devotees of Lord Venkateshwara. Alwal is home to a historic Venkatesh¬wara temple, which is located near Alwal municipal office and is more than 400 years old. There are a number of other temples in the vicinity, including the one built in the style of the Lotus Temple, Delhi. Alwal hosts a jatara at Venkateshwara temple every November and December which attracts many visitors.

Alwal was a part of Jagir of Sir Kishen Pershad, Prime Minister of Nizam, during 1920s. Sir Kishen Pershad used to have his ‘Devdi’ (palace) at Alwal and used to spend time here during summer. In those days, Alwal was on edge of a huge forest which extended up to Shamirpet. Even Nizam had his summer palace here just opposite the Rythu Bazaar on the Alwal-Bolaram road which is now housing Bhavan’s Rajaji International Institute of Public Affairs and Administration.

Problems

Dr GV Rao, general secretary, GASA, said, “No proper town planning of the once-spacious suburb of Alwal is choking its lung space. The cantonment area used to offer good lung space for morning walkers and joggers but this too had been barred by the Army officials on the account of security lapses.”

“Though we have stopped some illegal constructions at Golnaka and Manjira Colony by the collective effort of residents and government authorities, we are not able stop rampant illegal constructions in other areas and in FTL and buffer zone limits of the two lakes Chinna Rayudu Cheruvu and Alwal Cheruvu, which is under the jurisdiction of the HMDA and the GHMC.

The representa¬tions given to the GHMC and Road and Buildings authorities to widen the roads have garnered no response or action till date. We request the authorities to fix the problem at the earliest,” he added.