Qutb Shahi-era rampart wall in Golconda on verge of collapse; experts seek ASI attention

Experts say rechannelling of water has negatively impacted the ramparts of Golconda Fort’s Naya Qila, Hyderabad’s famous heritage monument

Portions of the Golconda Fort’s Naya Qila (new fort), built between the 14th and 17th centuries, have given way, creating a three-metre-wide hole. When it was constructed, four horses could run abreast on the wall that is nine metres wide and 12 metres high. The almost vertical wall with ashlar masonry, where dressed blocks of granite are laid together without bonding material, has now begun to slope inwards, its earthen sections washed away.

The Naya Qila, which encloses a hillock and a lake, was added to the fort by the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1656, after the Mughal Army under Aurangzeb used the hillock to train his guns at the older fort, built in the 12th century.

The path to the African baobab tree, one of the tourist attractions at the fort, has been restricted to prevent further damage. “We will inspect and restore the wall. The granite is strong and has not been affected,” said an official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is the custodian of the national monument.

“Unscientific and ad-hoc interventions have brought the fort to this stage. The water is flowing through an area where it is not supposed to flow, so this was bound to happen. The ASI should act immediately so that further damage is arrested,” said Sajjad Shahid, a civil engineer and co-convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), after seeing a video of the damage to the fort wall.

The Naya Qila portion of the Golconda Fort has been turned into a 52-acre golf course by filling up the water body inside the fortification and changing the contours. The bastion near the baobab tree, known as Tad Burj, is a tee-off point, while the heritage tree is surrounded by a fairway. The water from the lake outside the fort, which used to flow into the fort, is channelised through a new opening created two years ago.

“The caving in of the rampart wall has changed the alignment of the rocks. We can clearly see some of the granite blocks have moved,” said architect Sibghat Khan, who found the changes in the fort wall during a heritage walk. “The wall was not damaged overnight. It happened due to channelling of water from the Shah Hatim Lake to prevent flooding in Nadeem Colony. If the water can be drained through the moat, further damage can be limited,” said Mr. Khan.