Pedestrianisation Project works pick up momentum

Hyderabad: Execution of the Rs 3.50-crore Charminar Pedestrianisation Project works picked up momentum as Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, asked the officials to complete the works at the earliest.

Moreover, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation additional commissioner Mohammad Musharaf Ali has been appointed to coordinate with various government departments and supervise the execution of the works.

According to Musharaf Ali, works worth Rs 2.50 crore have been executed so far. The city police commissioner issued a notification regulating traffic in the area for six months to facilitate execution of works. Currently, granite flooring works are going on at a feverish pitch.

Besides these works, the Rs 87-lakh Chaar Kaman restoration and beautification works have picked up momentum, he said.

GHMC released funds for the development of historic monuments in the city as the Minister went on record stating that special measures to restore the ancient structures of historical significance are under way. The GHMC released funds for the 400-year-old Char Kaman and 120-year-old Mahabub Chowk and Clock Tower.

In 1592, when the Charminar was build the then Nizam rulers had built four arches (Kaman – which are popularly called as Char Kaman) in all the four directions to the historic structure. They are popularly called as Char Kaman, Kali Kaman, Machili Kaman and Sher-e-Batil-Ki-Kaman.

They were built in Indo-Persian style of architecture and measure 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide.

The four historic structures lost their grandeur with the wild growth of plants on them, sound and air pollution, electric wires criss-crossing over them, tying flexi banners to them.

With the allocation of Rs 87 lakh to the restoration of the four Kaman’s, plastering and repairing works are going on to bring past glory to them. A part of the plastering has peeled off. Some shops appeared near the historic structures undermining their magnificence. The officials are taking steps to remove the shops. Numerous banners have been tied to it obscuring their beauty.

The GHMC Commissioner, Dr B Janardhan Reddy, said that the Kaman restoration works that commenced on October 14 last year would be completed by the end of March.

Nawab Osman The Bahadur, who was the Prime Minister to the Nizam rulers from 1887-1894, built the Mahabub Chowk in a square shape during his regime. A five-storied clock-tower featured at the center of the chow.

The GHMC released Rs 50 lakh to restore the clock tower.A Mumbai-based firm bagged the tender to execute the clock-tower restoration works.The GHMC officials said that the firm would commence the restoration works soon.