Owaisi wants new ₹1,000-crore hospital in place of OGH

Heritage activists, citizens shocked at MP alluding to demolition

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday visited the Osmania General Hospital and demanded that the State government build a new hospital in the area on 35,00,000 square feet at a cost of ₹1,000 crore. “We demand that the Chief Minister sanction a new building. We are not at all concerned about the heritage building. We are concerned about people’s lives. If you want to keep the building, keep it; If you want to demolish it, do so,” said the MP who spoke about the dilapidated condition of the building. The OGH is a Grade-II B notified building under Regulation 13 of Hyderabad Urban Development Authority and enjoys protection under the Telangana High Court ruling in the Errum Manzil Case. The heritage building was designed by Vincent Esch was completed in 1925 and transformed the Musi riverfront with a number of secular buildings including the City College, Telangana High Court and Kachiguda Railway station. The architectural idiom known as Indo-Sarcenic style became associated with Hyderabad after the construction of these buildings.