Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday, January 11, reviewed construction plans for the new Osmania Hospital building with officials. He directed the authorities to expedite the land transfer process between departments and other necessary tasks for the proposed site in Goshamahal.
The chief minister also asked officials to expedite works in a way that the foundation stone for the new Osmania Hospital building could be laid by the end of this month.
A month ago, the chief minister also said that the old heritage building of Osmania General Hospital would be promoted as a tourist site. However, it is to be seen what the old building and the entire premises is turned into once the hospital is shifted to the new site at Goshamahal. On Saturday, officials also presented model maps for the proposed Osmania Hospital and other constructions to the CM.
Revanth Reddy also suggested several modifications and improvements to the existing plans and further instructed that the designs should take future needs into account, particularly for roads, parking, mortuary, and other infrastructure facilities.
Osmania General Hospital heritage building to be promoted as a tourist place
The fate of Osmania Hospital’s heritage structure was finally decided last year after the state government decided against demolishing it. The previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had caused umbrage among heritage activists after it announced that it would be demolished to pave way for a new one.
The Osmania General Hospital issue has seen quite a bit of vicissitude in the recent past, especially after 2020 when it was shut down after rainwater seeped into the ground floor. Since then, a court case calling for its demolition by a group of doctors has only aggravated matters. Moreover, in the recent few years, the flip-flop on the matter by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi has also been a matter of concern for activists.
However, now the matter is settled, with the new building coming up in Goshamahal.
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
