HYDERABAD: Telangana Principal Deputy Minister Mahmood Ali has raised a controversy with his remark that the historical ‘Charminar’ will be devastated if it becomes ruined, while defending the decision of his government to rebuild the 90-year-old Osmania General Hospital (OGH) in Hyderabad.
The opposition has been against the decision to rebuild OGH, saying they will not allow the demolition of the equity structure.
We will plant 10 to 15 hospital … and will be able to meet 10 times the number of patients than it does now. It will have the same name (OGH) …. When a building is weakened, if Charminar weakens, in 200 years, 400 years or 500 years, which will have to be destroyed as well. If a building is weakened, you can fall at any time and claim many lives, “said Mr. Ali yesterday.
Clarify his remarks, the Deputy Chief Minister said today that he only made a general reference to ‘Charminar’ to present his argument for rebuilding OGH is in a dilapidated state.
Charminar is a monument of the sixteenth century in the old town of Hyderabad and a point of reference and important tourist destination.
“Charminar is our ‘Pehchan’ (identity). We will strive to strengthen it. I was talking in a general sense that after 1,000 years (we have to think about it),” he said today when asked about the controversy .
Noting that the mostly poor patients arrive at the OGH for treatment, he said the government wanted to act in the best interests of the people and accused the opposition of playing politics on the issue.
The government wanted to expand the hospital’s capacity to treat more patients, he said.
Stressing that the OGH is a heritage structure, the main opposition Congress, MIM and elsewhere, however, opposed to its demolition.
Telangana Congress working president Vikramarka Mallu Bhatti, a member of Rajya Sabha V Hanumantha Rao and other party leaders, who visited the OGH yesterday, said the hospital was built by the then Nizam rulers benefit of poor patients.
Noting that they would resist attempts to demolish the structure, Mr. Vikramarka said the previous Congress government (in undivided AP) had given Rs. Rs 100 million for the modernization of the hospital.
