There’s always been talk of lost Nizam jewels, palaces and properties owned by the prominent family once upon a time that have now fallen under neglect and in a sad state of dilapidation. Since the Nizams stopped ruling Hyderabad, it has evolved into a multicultural hub with a population of over six million. However Hyderabad has not done a great job with preserving its heritage and history and the Hill Fort Palace located in Naubhat Pahad is a testament to this.

Hill Fort Palace was constructed in 1915 and it was designed to emulate the architecture style of Trinity College in the United Kingdom. It was later purchased by Osman Ali Khan (the last Nizam of Hyderabad) for his son before it was converted to the residence of the chairman of the City Improvement Board. After Operation Polo in 1950, the palace fell into the hands of the Indian government and the legacy of this palace has since been on a downhill slope as the palace started falling into a state of neglect.

When the palace was leased to the Ritz-Carlton Corporation in 1997, a glimmer of hope emerged as they had ambitious plans to convert Hill Fort palace into a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Hill Fort Palace was now on track to become a prominent monument in Hyderabad, by the likes of Falaknuma palace that was also purchased by Taj hotels to convert into a hotel around the same time. However, in a cruel turn of events, the government terminated the Ritz-Carlton’s lease over the property and since then the palace has been in an advanced state of neglect and is currently in need of urgent restoration.

Although the current owner of the palace is the Telangana state tourism development corporation (TSTDC), the public is not allowed to visit the palace. The last time public was allowed inside was in 2015 when a local art gallery partnered up with the TSTDC to host a mesmerizing art exhibition in its premises.

But there is still a ray of hope for the Hill Fort Palace to regain its former glory, after the Telangana High Court in its directions issued last month directed the State government to start the restoration and conservation work of the palace.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, gave the direction while dealing with a PIL filed by Hyderabad Heritage Trust seeking conservation and restoration of the historical heritage monument. The petitioner sought the court to direct the Union government to permit the Trust to take up the revival and conservation of the notified heritage structure.

The State government had earlier said that they would restore the heritage structure and constituted a committee of structural engineers to study the strength of the building.

By Devraj Reddy Bollareddy