Yeh Humara Shehar: Secunderabad the mighty city

Secunderabad, the popular twin city of Telangana is located on the Northern side of Hussain Sagar Lake. Though Hyderabad and Secunderabad are twin cities, they have different histories and cultures with Secunderabad having developed directly under British rule until 1948 and Hyderabad rising as the capital of the Nizams' princely State. Secunderabad is the sixth largest metropolis and the largest cantonment in India, with large presence of military establishments, army and air force personnel.

The Secunderabad Municipality was first formed in 1945. Later in 1950, along with Hyderabad Municipality, it was upgraded to Secunderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Corporation Act, 1950. In 1960 by the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act 1955, Secunderabad Municipal Corporation was merged with Hyderabad Corporation to form a single Municipal Corporation. Today, Secunderabad is part of the Hyderabad district.

The major landmarks are Secunderabad Railway Station, King Edward Memorial Hospital that is now Gandhi Hospital at Musheerabad , Old Jail Complex near Monda Market, Military Jail at Trimulgherry, Rashtrapati Nilayam at Bolarum, Secunderabad Cantonment Board earlier a Court House, Secunderabad Club, Trimulgherry Entrenchment area at Bolarum, Sir Ronald Ross Institute at Begumpet, Clock Tower Secunderabad and many more structures.

History
Of course, the Secunderabad history is long. In brief, though, it was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, the areas around present day of Hyderabad and Secunderabad came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty, whose seat of power was at Warangal. Finally, by the 18th century, the area was a part of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

According to Narendra Luther, former civil servant and writer, in his book on ‘Laskar’ said, “Modern Secunderabad was founded as a British cantonment after the Nizam Asaf Jah II was defeated at the hands of the British East India Company and was forced to sign the Treaty of Subsidiary Alliance in the year 1798 AD.

He had to sign the subsidiary alliance treaty in order to gain the support of the British troops parked in tents in the open areas of the maidan of the village Ulwul,north-east of Hussain Sagar, the lake that separates Secunderabad from its twin city Hyderabad. In 1803, Nizam Sikandar Jah, the third Nizam of Hyderabad, renamed Ulwul as Secunderabad after himself.”

Unlike Hyderabad, the official language of Secunderabad was English and it was exempted from customs duty on imported goods thus making trade very profitable. In addition, new markets like Regimental Bazaar and General Bazaar and Lal Bazar were created.

Problems
The Secunerabad Cantonment Board consists of a population of over four lakh and most of the people residing in the limits suffer from drinking water shortage, drainage overflow problems, no proper roads and encroachments on footpaths leading to narrowing of the roads, by-lanes, resulting in traffic jams.

BT Sreenivasan, general secretary, United Federation of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) said, “The burning issue of road entry regulations and closures of Army Roads at night in Secunderabad area for the past two years is causing inconvenience to more than 13.50 lakh road users in the neighbourhood of Makajigiri and peripheral areas of the North Zone.”