Mallepally Planned locality gone awry

Mallepally is a major suburb in the Old City. The major colonies are Vijayanagar Colony, Aghapura Colony, Bazargaat Colony and Sitarambagh. Major landmarks are Bade Masjid popularly known as Tabligi Jamat (Nizam’s era), Glory Cinema Talkies (1935; earlier known as Zia and Sham Talkies), SBH Branch (1973) and Housing Board Colony (1956). Neighboring colonies include Masab Tank, Lakdikapool Nampally Railway Station and Red Hills.

History

Mallepally was built by fifth Asafjahi ruler – Afzal Ud Daula next to the Afzal Sagar tank which was one of the largest tanks shaped like South America. Many people from Mallepally emigrated from India to the western countries. In the early 19th century, Malay people used to stay at this place and that’s how the area got its name.

In the early 20th Century, Hyderabad faced a lot of flooding by the Musi River and subsequently led to a plague where the population reduced. Nizam Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII, who had just come to occupy the throne, conferred with his ministers and city planners to come up with comprehensive plans to improve sanitation and hygiene of the city. The Hyderabad City Improvement Board (CIB) was formed in 1914. The board took on several tasks such as slum clearance, construction of drains and improving roads.

Slums around Khairatabad, Habibnagar and Red Hills was cleared and people from the area needed to be relocated. Since the lands near Nampally below Afzal Sagar Tank were fallow paddy fields, the CIB reclaimed the land and constructed model houses which then housed those who had been disturbed by the CIB’s operations. This part of Hyderabad came to be known as Mallepally.

The houses designed by the CIB were classified into four groups according to quality of accommodations, from A to D. Rent for D class was Rs 1.5, for C class it was Rs 3, for B it was Rs 7 and for A it was Rs 12 per month. The houses were part of an art deco design with the CIB logo stamped to the front of each house. Famous personalities from Mallepally include Shaz Tamkanat, Fani Badayuni and Aslam Farshori, actors Tabassum Hashmi (Tabu), Shabana Azmi and Nigar Sultana.

Ray Jayanti Prasad, who was the man behind the MNJ Cancer Hospital and Radium Institute and Indian Conference of Social Work, also hailed from this neighborhood. A road in Mallepally is named after him. Due to the presence of prominent sporting icons from Mallepally, it is famous for eight play grounds, viz Bharat Ground, Samosa Ground, Moghal Ground, Fani Ground, Hashim Ground, Sadath Ground, Zafar Shah Ground and Football Ground.

The Mallepally of today is only a shadow of what it was even forty years ago.Most of the buildings of the area have been demolished, tall apartment buildings taking their place. Although some of the houses of the C and D class are still surviving, there are very few B class houses and only two A class houses still remaining in the neighborhood.

Problems

Mhd. Rauoof Khan and MM Firadous senior citizens, said, “There is heavy traffic near Riyan Hotel and Zoha Restaurant due to unauthorised sanctions by the GHMC. The entire footpath is encroached. There is no proper drinking water supply, garbage is not cleaned on time, no proper drainage system and poor power supply.”

By:Ch Saibaba