Golconda Fort: Hyderabad history is at the mercy of vandals

From bad to worse

South First visited the Golconda fort twice within a fortnight but noticed no improvement.

It was observed that the situation, instead, went from bad to worse as the fort is currently hosting the traditional Telangana Hindu festival Bonalu.

“Garbage during Bonalu is three times more than usual. Every day, we are collecting over five tonnes approximately. Instead of using dustbins placed here, people litter on the ground,” said a GHMC worker.

According to the ASI officials, while the normal number of visitors per day is between 4,000 and 5,000 during weekends, it increases to 10,000-15,000 during Bonalu, and can at times even reach 20,000.

People are not allowed to enter the parks, which are well maintained, inside the fort.

More guards for Golconda

The security guards, deployed by the private agency SIS, said that the vandals do not listen to them even after repeated requests.

The Golconda fort in Telangana’s capital is full of graffiti (South First/ Ajay Tomar)

“We ask people to not write on the walls. But they say that we have bought a ₹25 ticket and that they are entitled to do anything here. Even many guardians of younger kids do not stop them,” said a guard who comes from Bihar.

A total of 32 total guards work across four shifts at the fort.

“There has been a requirement for more guards for a long time. There are only eight guards in one shift to protect this huge fort from vandals. Even they have weekly offs and so the number gets fewer then. We have also sent a proposal of installing CCTVs at the fort,” M Naveen Kumar, a conservation assistant with the ASI, told South First.

Fort littered

Siva Reddy, a shopkeeper at the hilltop pavilion within the premises of the fort, told South First, “I have been running my business inside the fort for the past 18 years. The authorities painted this hilltop three years ago but people, mostly couples, again wrote on its walls.”

Litter too is omnipresent inside the Golconda fort (South First/ Ajay Tomar)

Youth, mostly school and college students, can be seen climbing on the roof of the structures and creating a ruckus.

A few foreign tourists were there too. Julian Sagebier, a 33-year-old visitor to the fort from Germany, said, “My friend and I were just looking at how people have littered almost everywhere here. It’s unpleasant to see that.”

His friend, Dominik Sagebier, while comparing Golconda to the forts in their homeland, said such things are impossible in Germany as “the implementation of rules is paramount”.

“Generally, people do not litter outside. But if they do, they are slapped with huge fines to be paid whether it’s an ancient monument or outside them,” he said.

Modern love, Golconda edition

The timeless edifice, spread across 5 kilometres, sees messages of love and doodles of heart scribbled on them. Engravings on tombs were inscribed with gibberish.

Modern inscriptions and declarations of love, present in many of India’s heritage monuments, can be seen in the Golconda fort too (South First/ Ajay Tomar)

“They use permanent markers, sharp stones, bike and car keys, and other items to write on the walls,” another shopkeeper said.

Visitors do not pay attention to the ASI awareness hoardings and billboards, according to which a fine of exceeding up to ₹1 lakh or imprisonment of up to two years is applicable to those who deface any part of the monument.

The ASI’s Naveen Kumar said that there were regular incidents of “wall scratching, eve-teasing, and theft”. He added: “If the guard catches the culprit, we hand the person to the local police without imposing any penalty. Our security keeps on briefing the public about the dos and don’ts regularly, but at the same time it’s their responsibility to not damage the historical property.”