The assembly building (Town Hall), the telangana State Archaeology Museum, the silver Jubilee Pavilion, and the Royal mosque are all part of the ensemble of Asaf Jahi structures that make up Hyderabad's Public Garden, which also serves as a refuge for early morning walkers. However, few people are aware that the previous Nizam, Mir Osman ali Khan, had desired to keep the public out of Bagh-e-Aam.

The Public Garden was home to significant governmental structures, thus the Nizam ordered its public access to be completely banned in 1938. The area then housed a small zoo and the Numaish, an annual industrial expo. In response to the diktat, it was agreed to relocate the zoo and the exhibition to an area close to the Moazzam Jahi Market. The Nizam's executive council proposed that the Lower Tank Bund Road, also known as Hussainsagar, be used for the construction of a new public garden that would house the zoo.

In 1939, on the advice of the executive council, the Nizam appointed a committee of doctors to "report whether the site selected would be healthy for the people" given the malaria prevalence in the area. The committee members were Dr Hyder ali Khan (director of the medical department), Dr K.N. Waghrey (principal medical officer, Regular Forces), Dr Chenoy (municipal health officer), Dr B.K. Das (professor of zoology, Osmania University) and Meher ali Fazil (superintending engineer).  

"When improved and made healthy," the panel concluded, "the road below Hussainsagar would become quite suitable for a public garden and will add to the improvement of the city and will also mitigate the malaria and mosquito nuisance in hyderabad and Secunderabad."  The report said that in order to combat malaria, the region had previously been proposed for improvement and canalization. It advocated for the acquisition of a vast region, including wet agricultural land beyond Dhobi Ghat, for development.  

The responsibility of creating the new location fell to the City Improvement Board (CIB), which was founded to rebuild hyderabad following the floods of 1908 Musi. The Board determined that 240 acres would need to be purchased and renovated, with a budget of Rs 7.5 lakh.  The Second World war had already begun when the Nizam gave the Allied Forces his complete backing. To suspend all "non-essential" CIB projects "for reducing the demand upon material and engineering staff both of which are required for defence purposes," said Theodor Tasker, a revenue member of Nizam's Executive Council. Additionally, he added, the reserve or unfinished work would be beneficial to offer employment "when demobilisation and economic depression come" after the war. 14 significant current municipal improvement projects were halted as a result.

In 1942, the finance department sanctioned Rs 6 lakh for the purchase of land for the zoo, but urged CIB to use leftover money from its coffers. The government's decision to halt any 'non-essential' spending during the war years prevented the construction from being started. Nawab Zain Yar Jung, a PWD member, urged during the june 1942 CIB meeting that land purchase should not be put off because property prices in the region were skyrocketing.  

The board took a second look at the situation and in march 1944 made a request to the finance department to "provide funds immediately for the acquisition of 240 acres of land below the Hussain Sagar Tankl Lake for the sanctioned scheme of Public Gardens, Zoo, and Athletics Grounds as there are encroachments around the area, and when acquisition will be taken up after the war it will be very costly to acquire newly built properties on the land to be acquired" because of the surrounding encroachments.
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SIBY JEYYA

24/09/2023 08:26 AM