Armed with a letter from Zonal Commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, a private entity is building a cafeteria and toilets bang opposite the Salar Jung Museum. “This will be a security risk. It will ruin the experience of the visitors to the Salar Jung Museum. This is a national landmark. They can build toilets elsewhere,” said A. Nagender Reddy, the director of Salar Jung Museum flagging the issue.
On Tuesday, a bunch of workers descended on the site and began flattening ground and laying bricks between the wall of Musi Riverfront and the pavement markers on the road. When officials of the SJM asked for documents, a permission letter from GHMC was handed over to them.
“Swachh Management Services is hereby permitted to provide supply and delivery of cafeteria with public toilets under safe city project, Hyderabad Circle 9 in Charminar Zone, GHMC, opposite side to Salarjung Museum main entrance gate,” reads the letter.
A small religious structure is already there right beside the entrance. “With this new addition, the area will become a bottleneck. A number of tourists come in buses and they visit the museum while the buses are parked on the road. It will add to the time of visitors to reach the museum now,” said another official of SJM.
