Hyderabad: In a relief to heritage lovers, Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy announced that the new building of the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) will be built on 30 acres in Goshamahal, while the existing old heritage building will be restored.
The foundation stone for the new Osmania General Hospital (OGH) building will be laid on the land of the old police quarters within the next 20 days, Revanth Reddy informed the Assembly.
Revanth Reddy made the announcement in response to a question by All India Majlis e Ittehad ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi over the buildings of the hospital.
The former BRS government led by K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) had decided to demolish the heritage structure of the Osmania General Hospital and build a new one on the same site. Before losing to Congress in the Assembly elections last year, they had proposed the demolition of the old building and the construction of a modern hospital with 1812 beds in its place. The decision was met with criticism from heritage activists.
In contrast, the Congress party in its manifesto for the Assembly elections had promised to preserve the heritage structure of the Osmania General Hospital and develop state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure on its site.
However, the Congress government too reportedly backtracked and reiterated the need to demolish the structure and construct a new one on its site.
It may be recalled that AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi caused a furore and came under fire from activists for saying that the heritage building should be torn down for a new hospital building to be built in its place.
While there is no doubt that Osmania Hospital’s infrastructure is in shambles, the heritage structure, which was built in the 1920s by Hyderabad’s last Nizam occupies only three out of the total 26 acres of the entire premises.
Well-known architect Srinivas Murthy, who designed Yashoda Hospital’s Gachibowli site, last year gave several alternatives during a presentation at Lamakaan. Other activists have also time and again pointed out that there is ample space to construct a new hospital.
History of Osmania General Hospital
Osmania Hospital was completed in 1925 after Hyderabad was affected by the bubonic plague around 1911. The city administration then took care of the issue, following which the then Nizam Osman Ali Khan (1911-48) set up the City Improvement Board (CIB) in 1912 to improve Hyderabad’s infrastructure. It was designed by architect Vincent Esch, who also designed the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata.
The original or heritage building of Osmania Hospital (along with others like the High Court and City College) is a fine example of the Osmania style or Indo-Saracenic genre of architecture and is an integral part of Hyderabad’s 20th-century riverscape and skyline. The CIB during the reign of Osman Ali Khan had transformed the medieval city into a modern metropolis, complete with infrastructure like the High Court, railway stations, etc.
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