State's Neglect Damages Telangana's Errum Manzil Beyond Repair
A majority of the doors and windows are broken beyond repair: Reports
HYDERABAD: The Errum Manzil palace, once a symbol of Hyderabad’s rich heritage, continues to rot in silence. The palace, which served as a government office, is in a pathetic condition, with its structure crumbling.
A majority of the doors and windows are broken beyond repair. In addition, the heritage structure has severe water seepage issues, with wall plaster peeling off. Further, there is massive vegetation growth all across the building façade.
The pathetic condition of the structure has raised serious concerns among heritage enthusiasts and historians, who stated that the building, which comes under the protected sites of HMDA, has continued to be neglected.
Activists said that even after several people approached the court and stopped the palace from being demolished by the earlier government, successive governments did not initiate any steps to restore the structure to its past glory.
Errum Manzil, an Indo-European–styled palace, was built around 1870 by Nawab Fakhrul Mulk on a hillock from where Hussain Sagar could be seen. The palace had about 140 rooms, a large hall, golf courses, a polo ground, stables for horses, and a dairy farm, covering an area of 36 acres.
According to Anuradha Reddy, convener of Intach (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage ), Hyderabad, the neglect of Errum Manzil began with the previous government, which lacked interest in restoring heritage structures. “Heritage structures are being neglected intentionally. Errum Manzil building is a gem of the city,” she added.
Nawab Safdar Jung Musheer-ud-Doula Fakrul Mulk was a prominent and wealthy nobleman in the Hyderabad State during the Nizam era. Later, the palace, which was taken over by the state government in 1951, served as a government office complex.
Despite being under government control, the palace structure became a victim of negligence, and its condition has now deteriorated completely, activists said. They added that the BRS government tried to take advantage of the situation and, in 2019, planned to demolish the palace and build a new legislative assembly complex there.
Heritage activist Md. Habeebuddin urged the state government to restore such unique palaces and convert them into heritage and cultural event spaces. “This will ensure the maintenance of the building,” he added.
