“We are talking about the 1870s when the British were the allies of the Nizams,” says Hyderabad-based Dr Sibghatullah Khan, founder of Deccan Archives.
“The British Presidency included the Bombay, Madras and the Bengal Presidency. These surrounded the Hyderabad state, which had no railway,” adds Dr Anuradha Reddy (INTACH).
Being a landlocked state, until then, everything had to be sent via Bombay. Nanded, he shares, was one of the inland ports for Hyderabad state.Dr Anuradha Reddy (INTACH).
“Eventually, the NGSR was built by the British but with a 5% guarantee and that’s why it was called the Nizam Guaranteed. Hyderabad state paid 5% a year, profits or not,” shares Khan.
The Wadi to Secunderabad line was inaugurated in 1874. “It was considered suitable to carry on from Secunderabad to Vijayawada as it linked the east and west coast via Hyderabad.”
By 1924, the Balharshah-Kazipet line was established to connect the north and the south. In 1930, the Nizam, paid off the railway shares and NGSR became Nizam State Railway in 1932.
With the railway line now positively impacting trade along the north-south route, Nizam VII found it only fitting to make way for a road network as last-mile connectivity.