HYDERABAD: Arts College building, the pride of Osmania University campus, is leaking. The listed heritage structure is deteriorating little by little every monsoon. This year’s latest round of rains has only made matters worse.
Some walls of the 80-year-old building appear soaked from inside. According to staff working at the Arts College, it is common to find pools of water collecting in classrooms and offices located in basement. Plaster chipping off and falling is not uncommon in many parts of the building.
A visit to Arts College revealed water leaking into the building from its roof. There are large patches of moisture on original lime mortar walls of different floors. Repairs, mostly patch work, however, are being taken up using cement. Repainting is being done from time to time to cover up patch work, though it is in complete disregard of norms pertaining to repair and restoration of heritage structures.
According to OU Arts College caretaker Linga Reddy, repairs and renovation work are on. They have only been stopped on account of rains. “Earlier, work had been delayed for a prolonged period because we did not have a vice chancellor for a long period. Now that a VC has been appointed, work will start soon,” he maintained.
While structural damage to the Arts College building due rains and decades of apparent neglect of maintenance is clearly visible, students and university staff are also complaining of repeated threats from snakes that crawl into the building, particularly classrooms and other spaces in basement. In the latest instance on July 12, a nearly seven-foot cobra had been discovered in a corridor of the basement. This is the second poisonous snake found in the Arts College building in the last two months. On June 8, another cobra was spotted coiled inside a men’s toilet. It escaped by entering the sewer line through the commode.
Security guard K. Krishna, who opened the door of Journalism Department in the basement on July 12, said, “We found a seven-foot-long cobra with its hood open and ready to attack. We closed the door and called snack catchers. They captured the cobra.”
Paul Marx, a student leader of Osmania University, said, “This building is the prestige of Telangana. The newly appointed vice chancellor should prioritise adequate funds for the heritage building’s maintenance and restoration.”
The authorities at Arts College in the Osmania University have said that seepage of rainwater from the roof into several nooks and corners of the heritage building has indeed been a problem but a plan was in the works to take up repairs on the roof of the building to stop such seepage.
Arts College principal Prof C Ganesh said that Rs 2 crore have already been allocated for taking up repairs in the building. The first task is to repair the roof and make it waterproof. Once that is done, then repairs inside will be taken up, he said.
A previous attempt to waterproof the roof with tar lined sheets did prevent some leakages but this effort made many years ago, is no longer working. The previous acting VC and IAS officer Arvind Kumar had sanctioned Rs 2 crore for repairs of this heritage building, Prof Ganesh said.
