Hyderabad: Residents living around the 125-year-old Paigah Palace in Begumpet have raised an alarm after the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) cut down nearly 50 trees inside the heritage campus, which is being renovated to house the authority’s new headquarters.
According to a Deccan Chronicle report, Laxmi Narasimham, a retired employee and resident of Indian Airlines Colony who has lived in the area for 36 years, said trees were felled between Saturday, August 22, and Monday morning, August 24. He recalled that the palace grounds once sheltered peacocks, birds, honeycombs and butterflies, and that the greenery had been maintained even during the years the site housed the US Consulate.
Another resident, Srikanth, said the birds that depended on the trees, including the peacocks, have since left the area.
Another resident stated that they were given no opportunity to object before the felling began, and questioned why the US Consulate had been able to function on the premises for years without disturbing the greenery while HMDA could not. He said iron sheets installed during the renovation had also been removed.
However, the HMDA has claimed that most of the felled trees had shown no growth, that some had been relocated within the campus, and that the work was carried out with all required permissions, including clearance from forest officials.
The dispute over felling is not the first at the site. The palace was leased to the United States in 2008 to house its consulate-general, and preparatory security work at the time required cutting 42 trees, a move that drew criticism from environmentalists and architects who said it disrespected a heritage site in a way that would not have been permitted on American soil. The consulate operated from the premises until 2023, when it relocated to Nanakramguda, after which the Telangana government approved shifting HMDA’s offices to the palace in March 2024.
Built around 1900 by Paigah nobleman Sir Viqar-ul-Umra, who had earlier gifted the Falaknuma Palace to the sixth Nizam, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, the palace is also known as Devdi Iqbal-ud-Daula. Spread over roughly four acres, the neo-classical structure features a grand portico, unfluted Corinthian columns, semi-circular arches, pedimented windows, arcaded verandahs and a 56-foot atrium.
The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA), HMDA’s predecessor, first moved into the palace in 1981 and added a modern annexe to the rear in 1999 while attempting to preserve the original styling.
Residents said the palace grounds have long served as a green lung for close to 1,000 families in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Siasat.com reached out to the officials for their response, but they remained unavailable for a comment.
