The much talked about restoration plan for the Qutb Shahi tombs seems to hang in balance. Hopes of the domed structures getting a new lease of life look remote, with the A.P. Wakf Tribunal staying the repair work. After years of dilly-dallying, the government signed an MoU on January 9 with the Agha Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), the world’s leading conservation body, for restoring the pristine glory of the royal necropolis.
But within days of the inking of the agreement in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, the whole plan has come unstuck. The AKTC, which is investing Rs. 100 crore to restore the tomb complex, is shocked at the stay on the repair work. “We have never faced such a situation anywhere in the world,” said Ritesh Nanda of the AKTC.
When the structures are crumbling, staying the repair work is illogical, conservationists feel. The AKTC wants the State Government to take initiative to sort out the legal tangle at the earliest so that work could begin.
Ismailimail 