Hyderabad: The GHMC’s plan to develop a garden around centuries-old tamarind tree at Osmania General Hospital has hit a road block with the local graveyard and dargah panel objecting to it.
The GHMC started laying a granite pathway around the tree but could not proceed after two days as the caretaker Mohammed Pasha, of the Hazrat Sadath Baba Dargah took objection.
The caretaker said the sanctity of the dargah as well as graveyard should be maintained. “If the GHMC builds a park, people will start trampling the ground, which will be an insult,” he said.
The tree is of historical significance because “nearly 150 people managed to save themselves by climbing up the tree during the 1908 floods that devastated the city,” said historian M.A. Qayyum.
Asked about the issue, GHMC south zone commissioner S. Srinivas Reddy said, “We want to protect the tree and create awareness among people about the site. We are trying to find a way by not touching the graveyard.”
