Hyderabad: 3 years on, famed college works stuck in red tape

Hyderabad: Despite funds sanctioned from the State and the Central governments, renovation works of City College building, notified as a heritage structure, have been moving at a snail's pace for the last three years. The college was granted funds to the tune of Rs 2.93 crore for renovation works in 2016-17.

An RTI plaint filed by Mohd Imaam Tahseen, a social activist, elicited that an amount of Rs 2.93 crore was sanctioned three years ago for the renovation of the dilapidated structure. The funds were granted by the State government as well as under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Central government programme aimed at raising the bar of campus life in state universities and affiliated colleges.

However, the funds have been not utilised to restore the college structure to its former glory. Works were ignored to spruce up the disfigured building. "The bamboo scaffolding set up for panting a of the main building three years ago still stands as the works have not yet been completed. This speaks of dithering attitude of authorities in executing the works. The compound wall surrounding the huge building is still crying for the attention of the officials.

Tahseen says that the college which also houses a study circle of Dr BR Ambedkar Open University has been a reputed centre for those pursuing higher education in the southern parts of city. As per the RUSA website, the share of funding between the Centre and the State was fixed at a ratio of 60:40 for general category and 90:10 for special category states and 100% for union territories.

According to official records, the first installment of Rs 25 lakh as Central government share for the renovation of City College was released in 2015. The details of utilisation of funds have not been updated on the website of RUSA.

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The City College, an Under Graduate and Post-Graduate autonomous university, is one of the oldest Heritage structures in Hyderabad. It has has been re-accredited with 'A' grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

The Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI of Hyderabad established the first city school in the name "Madarsa Dar-ul-uloom" as early as 1865, later Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, converted it into a City High School. The school moved into the present grand building in 1921. In 1929, the school was upgraded to a college and was named as City College. The campus is spread over 16 acres and the building is constructed on the banks of Musi River in the Indo-Saracenic style facing the open ground (now Quli Qutub Shah Stadium) and the Telangana High Court is adjacent to the college. The College building has been declared as a Heritage Monument by the Government of Telangana.

The College has facilities like central library which possesses rare books, central computing and internet facilities, cricket, football stadium, NCC and NSS, health centre, BR Ambedkar Open University center, auditorium and Seminar Hall.

It has a state of the art biotechnology lab, and field visits to Genome Valley.

Shivraj Patil, P Shiv Shankar, Marri Chenna Reddy, Arshad Ayub and M Prabhakar Reddy are some of the renowned alumni.