Hyderabad: Charminar inner walls in ruins, don't go by facade

HYDERABAD: The historical Charminar may appear magnificent from the outside thanks to its periodic outward maintenance, but as one steps inside the monument one comes across walls with lime and mortar peeled off, graffiti and damaged staircase.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been regularly carrying out repairs to the minarets and arches.The inside of the monument, particularly the staircase presents a pathetic look. The limestone plaster of the staircase walls has been peeling off giving a tough time to tourists, who throng the monument.
The peeling of the wall plaster is continuously taking bad shape since the tourists are using the small holes in the walls as a railing while climbing up. That's not all, the graffiti on the walls is aiding the plaster to loosen and fall off.
In 2019, the ASI carried out vast repairs of the four minarets, but the damage to the staircase has aggravated in the last three years. ASI officials claim that since Charminar is four centuries old peeling off of limestone plaster takes place due to ageing, pollution and changing weather conditions.
"Repairs to the historical Charminar is a continuous process, we take up repairs depending on the damage to the monument. There are a few areas identified which needs immediate attention," said a senior official of the ASI.
The post-Covid-19 situation is witnessing the influx of interstate tourists to the monument and lack of awareness among them about the preserving it is proving out to be detrimental to the walls of the staircase of Charminar.
"Visiting the historic place gives immense pleasure but it's worrisome to see the walls of the staircase in a bad shape" said Akriti Singh, a tourist from Rajasthan.
ASI officials maintained that re-plastering with limestone will be undertaken as per a periodic schedule shortly. They said that while replastering of the stairway in entirety is not possible as replacing the old plaster with new is not the right approach to conserve the inner walls of the ancient monument. The ASI is instead focusing on filling the gaps left by graffiti scratches, they said.
"We have worked on restoring the stairway by setting up new lights for the benefit of the tourists. Over and above this, as part of routine maintenance we will use limestone to fill up the gaps where graffiti has been done. We are trying to restore it in a way it matches the original. However, tourists from their end must also exercise caution and not destroy the monument with markings," the senior ASI official said.