Legendary Katora Houz is now a cesspool
■ The pond is filled with murky water that is covered with water hyacinth
If the legend is to be believed the Katora Houz at Golconda was filled with rose water for the king Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah who visited the place and enjoyed the ambience.
Katora means ‘bowl’ in Urdu and the stone and mortar structure, constructed in 1560, was shaped like a bowl, hence the name.
Shockingly, the 1 kmradius pond now can be called a cesspool, seeing how it is filled with murky water, and covered with water hyacinth and weeds.
In its heyday it got water from dedicated underground pipes connected to the Talaab-e-Durg, now Durgam Cheruvu.
“The Qutb Shahi kings visited the place for recreational purpose. There were also a lot of gardens around the place,” says M.A. Qayyum, a historian.
Mr Qayyum explained that a special emphasis was given to the construction of the tank to make it a beautiful piece of architecture too.
During the siege of Golconda Fort in 1687 when Abdul Hasan Qutb Shah was the king, the tank literally came to the rescue of the people of the kingdom who used the water for drinking purpose. The siege continued for eight long months before the forces of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb managed to get into the fort, said Mr Qayyum.
“A place of recreation then, it has now become a curse for the locals. A pungent smell emanates from the tank and is a cause of worry,” complained Abdul Ghani, who lives nearby.
The locals along with the public representatives had taken up the issue to the GHMC and ministers, several times. “Nothing has happened so far. We had asked the authorities to convert the tank into a tourist place so that it is always clean,” says Kauser Mohiuddin, AIMIM MLA from Karwan.
The Archaeological Survey of India which is the caretaker of the Golconda Fort and other monuments around it has agreed to give a ‘No Objection Certificate’ for the works, the MIM MLA said.
He said that the GHMC has to clean it up and restore it in consultation with ASI officials.