Nawaid Anjum | India Tomorrow
HYDERABAD, SEPTEMBER 2—The Telangana High Court has asked the state government to furnish the “clear” site plan of the new multi-storey building to house the entire Osmania General Hospital (OGH) premises, keeping in view the existing buildings’ dilapidated condition, within a week.
Responding to an earlier order of the court, the state government had submitted a site plan on Monday, but the HC bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, expressed its unhappiness over the quality of the map and asked for a clear map to be furnished by September 8. Advocate general BS Prasad assured the bench that the government would furnish a clear site plan by the due date.
The HC was hearing four public interest litigations seeking a direction to the government to construct a new building to house the OGH. The map furnished to the bench was unclear and the details were illegible. The HC also expressed its amusement over the conflicting claims about the availability of the 16-acre vacant area that some petitioners argue could be used for the construction of the new building.
The iconic OGH building, built on 26.5 acres of land, was commissioned by the last Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali Khan and was completed in 1925. Nearly 150 years old, it is considered a heritage structure. OGH is Telangana’s premier tertiary care hospital and currently the only non-COVID care hospital in the state capital. The hospital’s heritage block was shut last week after the ground floor of the general wards was flooded amid heavy rainfall. Due to water seepage from the roof as well as choked underground storm water drain system, the ward was filled with ankle- deep water. The images of patients wading through the water went viral on social media and triggered a wave of concern from several quarters, including politicians. All the patients were shifted to wards in other buildings within the complex. “The main OGH building is not in use anymore,” Dr Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education, told the media.
Doctors in the state are eagerly awaiting the HC judgment on the batch of PILs regarding the building. The PILs have been filed by two factions of people. While one set of petitioners, which includes heritage activists, has demanded the restoration of the heritage block, another set wants a new building for the OGH.
The three-storey building, located at Afzal Gunj, is part of the city’s skyline. Regarded as a classic example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, with the third floor having Jack Arch roof, the building has a grand dome on its central tower, with smaller cupolas and domed pavilions on its corners and stairwells. In November 2010, the state government had announced a sum of Rs 200 crore for a new building for OGH. Since then, while no progress was made regarding a new building, the existing block suffered further deterioration, made worse by the officials’ apathy.
In 2015, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced its plan to raze the heritage building and replace it with twin towers of 12 floors each. However, his plan was met with severe public outcry and was shelved indefinitely. At the time, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) stated that the building was structurally stable and called for repair and restoration. In 2019, after another round of inspection, INTACH concluded that OGH Heritage Building was structurally safe and could be made safe for another century if it was repaired and subsequently maintained. Following this, several heritage activists started an online petition to save the heritage structure. Along with the construction of a new hospital building, activists are demanding that the government invest in restoration and preservation of the heritage building.
