Hyderabad: Ivanka Trump, on her second day in the city, visited the historic Golconda Fort and spent about 45 minutes there. She arrived at the Makai Darwaza of the Fort, in a convoy of 17 cars, at around 3.10 pm on Wednesday. She was accompanied by officials from the USA.
Ms Trump explored the fort premises on foot. Her first stop was the portico, where she clapped her hands and heard it echo a kilometre away, in the Bala Hisar, at the summit of the fort. Officials explained to her how the system was used as a method of communication. “She was excited to hear about it, and tried it out clapping twice,” said an official from the department of Archaeology.
She then visited the Rani Mahal complex, which was once a four-storeyed building, but has now been reduced to a single floor. She climbed the stairs and went towards the Bala Hisar before walking back to the main gate. “She walked through the complex for about 45 minutes. She only boarded her vehicle when she reached the main gate,” said a senior police official. Ms Trump’s convoy departed from the Makai Darwaza.
All the shops around the Golconda Fort, apart from those on the roads leading to the Banjara Darwaza and Fateh Darwaza, were shut. The area was heavily barricaded and bore a deserted look throughout the day. Holidays were declared for the schools in the vicinity of the Fort in view of the restrictions.
Residents of the area said that the local police had instructed them to shut their shops for the day in preparation for the dinner to be hosted by the state government for the delegates of the GES.
However, K. Ashok Chakravarthy, the ACP of Asifnagar, said that only the shops in front of the Fort were asked to shut for security reasons.
“In other areas, we asked them not to allow strangers to stand in their vicinity,” he said. Shopkeepers shut their shops voluntarily to avoid any trouble,” he said.
