A piece of Charminar falls; Hyderabadis distraught

When a chunk of a 400-year-old monument suddenly falls off, it's bound to cause panic. And panic there was, as a piece of the lime

stucco

work on one of the minarets of the iconic

Charminar

came tumbling down on Wednesday night.

There was pandemonium at the site, with tourists running helter-skelter, and curious locals gathering to see what really happened. Cops had to cordon the area off. There was just as much buzz on social media, as videos of the stucco falling off starting getting shared. Is it a freak accident? Was the ongoing restoration work responsible? Or is it a result of years of apathy and neglect. We speak to experts and heritage lovers to find out.

‘I believe there may have been some miscalculation in the restoration work’
ASI has been working on this project for the past three-four years, and I believe that during the restoration process, there might have been some miscalculations which affected the ornamental plaster. In restoration work, there is something called the ‘jute fiber reinforcement’ process which adds extra integrity to the building, by using jute fibre and fine nails so that any kind of vibrations or environmental factors don’t cause much harm. I believe there must have been something wrong with the way that process was handled. However, this is easily rectifiable and hopefully, ASI will take the best measures to make sure that the

minaret

is restored.
—Suryanarayana Murthy, Conservationist Architect

‘This incident serves as a warning sign for all of us’
Only a plaster of a minaret has fallen off, which is not a structural part of the monument, so it’s is not too concerning. Having said that, this serves as a warning bell. We need a much closer inspection of the monument to ensure more damage is not done to it. To be fair, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has been doing a good job with respect to monitoring and repair of Charminar, within the limitations that they have. But I’m not happy with the overall approach towards heritage from the state government. I feel the seriousness is lacking. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everybody concerned.
—Sajjad Shahid, co-convenor at INTACH.

‘This loss is personal for me; both the state government and ASI are to be blamed’
For me this is not just about a part of some old structure falling off; it’s too personal a loss, if I may call it so. I’m saying that not just because I am born in this city. Charminar has been a part of my life since I was a little boy. So many evenings of my childhood were spent there. So many afternoons of my college life were spent in front of it, sketching. I have been painting the Charminar all my life; some of those paintings are in collections all over the world. Over the years, the monument has become an identity of our city and this news is a warning sign that we can no longer afford to ignore. No matter what anyone else might say about weather, age of the construction etc., being responsible for this, I think the state government and ASI is to be blamed. For years, nothing has been done about the upkeep of Charminar. They’ve not even found a way to keep traffic off the streets around the monument. I wish the restoration work was given to some private trust or NGO. But then, how would corrupt officials find a way to grease their palms?
— Fawad Tamkanat, artist

‘Our heritage has been neglected for several decades. This had to happen’
For several decades, we have been complaining that not enough is being done to preserve our heritage. In 2005, NGRI had given a report stating how heavy vehicular movement near the monument is causing damage and leading to formation of cracks and blackening of the monument. And still, we see buses plying on the roads near Charminar. So this has been a long time coming. We need to do more to preserve our heritage and our monuments.
— Anuradha Reddy, co-convenor at INTACH

‘ASI is responsible, the state government must step in and fix this mess’
It’s been 450 years that Charminar is standing tall and suddenly after renovation a part of it falls? How? ASI was supposed to restore it and thus should be held responsible for this damage and experts should be rushed immediately to fix it. Government should step in and the blunder, however it may have happened, should be fixed.
— Zafar Javeed, educationist

This is not the first time somthing like this has happened. We have fixed it in the past; we will do so again: ASI
It’s an old structure and needs constant monitoring and repair. The plaster which has fallen off is a lime structure, which gets heavier when it rains. The plaster can get peeled off for various reasons – either due to heavy rainfall or because of vibrations that occur due to activities that take place near the monument. Recently, a building was demolished near the monument so this must have also led to vibrations. We must make sure that there is no vehicular movement around the monument. We had spoken to the Hyderabad police regarding the same and I think they must increase the area where vehicles cannot be allowed to ply. One must understand that a structure as old as Charminar needs constant repair and this is not something that’s happening for the first time in 400 years. In 1924, the entire monument was replastered after damage was done due to weather and other reasons. In 2001, a plaster had come off at the South Eastern minaret of the monument. We will restore it again, just as we have done in the past.
— Dr Milan Kumar Chawley, Hyderabad in-charge, Archeological Survey of India