Hyderabad: Mecca Masjid conservation at a snail's pace

Charminar: The Mecca Masjid conservation work continues at a snail's pace. Authorities remain clueless about the completion of the work under the supervision of outsourced employees of State Archaeology department before this year's Ramzan.

According to devotees, those who are claiming that work will be completed before Ramzan, including the State government, Adviser, Minority Affairs, State Minority Welfare and public representatives are just paying lip service. "In the main prayer hall of Mecca Masjid all 16 domes require to be repaired. Among them, only six were completed by previous contractor. Renovation of three domes is being done by present contractor. For the remaining seven, at least three to four months are required. You can understand the situation. Completion of this before Ramzan is impossible," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The conservation and facelift work were sanctioned in 2017. Till now only the facelift of historic maqbara, madarsa and other parts of Mecca Masjid were completed. The main prayer hall remains to be completed. "For the main structure of Mecca Masjid, Mumbai-based contractor Srinivas Surgi was interested in the conservation work. He was given time of 18 months in 2017 for completing the entire facelift of masjid. But he delayed the work due to some complications. He completed only about 60 per cent work due to non-cooperation of the State Archaeology department. The contract is said to be cancelled due to abnormal delay, added source.

After a few months, another contractor, who is also Mumbai-based, was appointed for work of other parts of masjid. Since his work was satisfactory, he was also allotted the remaining conservation and renovation of the main structure and prayer hall. The work is progressing. There is no chance of completing the entire work before Ramzan.

The facelift of masjid is delayed due to lack of director of the department. The work is supervised by the deputy director and a conservation assistant officer, besides the outsourced officers who don't have much experience. Often, the department staff visit the site. No other officials are authorised for the budget-related works. This is resulting in abnormal delay," the source noted.