Fire in Hyderabad heritage building uncovers unauthorised digging on ground floor

HYDERABAD: A fire that erupted on the upper floor of a heritage building in Hyderabad’s Pucca Qila area on Sunday evening led officials to discover extensive unauthorised digging on the ground floor of the property.

The building, listed as Zakria Dawa Khana, is located in Street No. 1 of Pucca Qila, an area that falls within an archaeological site. The upper floor was being used as a plastic goods godown when the blaze broke out.

Residents of the area joined Rescue-1122 personnel in efforts to put out the fire. During the operation, two people were injured. They were identified as Habibur Rehman and Sadiq Kazmi. Rehman sustained head injuries, while Kazmi suffered a broken leg. Both were shifted to Liaquat University Hospital for treatment.

The fire caused major damage to the entire upper portion of the structure. However, officials said the more startling development was the discovery of large-scale digging on the ground floor, which had apparently been carried out in secret.

The building had remained locked, and the activity inside had gone unnoticed until the fire broke out and the ground floor gate was opened. The property is owned by Fahad and Faisal, and different sections of the building had been rented out. One portion was being used for the production of herbal medicine, while another served as a plastic goods warehouse.

During the firefighting operation, local residents informed Assistant Commissioner City Noor Hussain and officials of the culture department about the suspected unauthorised work on the ground floor. The assistant commissioner then had the main entrance lock broken to inspect the premises.

“I was shocked to see the massive digging. Construction material like gravel was lying there. The space was utterly in a bad shape indeed,” Mr Noor told Dawn. He said the owner might have been attempting to create additional space inside the premises for commercial use, and suggested that this could be the reason for the excavation.

“The floor was completely dug up and this forced me to seal it off,” the AC stated.

Mr Noor said he asked Rukunuddin, a local official of the culture department, about the digging, but the official said he was unaware of it. The official told the assistant commissioner that the department generally inspected heritage buildings from the outside. The assistant commissioner was also surprised by the lack of knowledge, as the culture department’s office is located inside Pucca Qila.

The assistant commissioner has directed culture department officials to register an FIR against the occupants or tenant of the premises.

Local residents said this was the second fire incident at the building in less than two years. The property is listed at serial No. 64 on Hyderabad’s heritage properties list. Street No. 1 of the fort contains many of the city’s heritage sites.

Another fire reported in Ghumanabad

In a separate incident, another fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday at an LPG cylinder outlet in the Ghumanabad area. Rescue-1122 teams and firefighters responded to the scene.

MPA Nasir Qureshi and Hyderabad SSP Shahzeb Chachar also visited the site. Reports said the blaze started after a cylinder exploded at the outlet.

The fire spread to seven nearby shops and one house. As the shops were apparently closed at the time, Rescue-1122 personnel had to break the locks during the firefighting operation.