Intach Heritage Award winners from earlier years being honoured for taking care of monuments under their custody at Salar Jung Museum on Wednesday. more-in On International Day for Monuments and Sites, the Hyderabad chapter of Indian National Trust for Cultural Heritage (Intach) broke its 22-year-old tradition of announcing annual awards for city monuments to draw attention to the state of heritage in the region. “The prognosis for Hyderabad’s heritage is bleak. Bombay has 850 listed monuments. We have a far more glorious history, but only 160-odd monuments listed, that too without any legal protection after the scrapping of Regulation 13A,” said Sajjad Shahid of Intach. Later, a few winners of awards from earlier years were honoured for taking care of the monuments in their custody. “People who were alien to our culture gave us a semblance of protection. Now, we cannot say the same. There is an orchestrated pressure to demolish the Osmania General Hospital, otherwise why are the doctors wearing helmets?” asked Mr. Shahid. The chief guest on the occasion, Suresh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of English and Foreign Languages University, said the government should explore the synergy between tourism and heritage to boost the income of locals as well preserve heritage. “This year’s theme for International Day for Monuments and Sites is ‘Heritage for Generations’. But we appear to be losing the battle as every monument and landmark is seen as real estate. We have to fight to preserve and protect our heritage,” said Anuradha Reddy of Intach.

Stay updated with all the Hyderabad Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.