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The state government of Uttar Pradesh has proposed a Museum in Husainabad which I’m totally against because construction of any such building in a heritage zone must be avoided. I will try to explain the real intention of the administration here! (Thread) 1 @IndiaArtHistory
Firstly, the proposed museum will be built on the land of Husainabad & Allied Trust. Irrespective of encroachment, Husainabad Trust still has thousands of square feet of land in the middle of the city. 2
By building this museum, government will grab this land from the trust which was established by Nawab Mohammad Ali Shah to look after the Husainabad heritage monuments.
About 20 years ago, state government grabbed the land near Rumi Darwaza for a power station 3
About 20 years ago, state government grabbed the land near Rumi Darwaza for a power station 3
and within the walls of this power station a temple was built by its employees, now this temple can been seen on the pedestrian walk. Since the time of development of Husainabad Heritage Zone (2016-17) the boundary wall of power station was demolished to widen the road. 4
Before the power station was there, I remember we went to see a Circus held on this land. Eventually, few years back this power station was moved to Mahtab Bagh but that land and building have still not been given back to Trust instead it was given to a private company.. 5
Babey Infratech Pvt. Ltd by Lucknow Development Authority. If we move towards Durga Devi Marg, we can see how the lands of Husainabad Trust was illegaly sold by a member of Nawab family of Awadh and a member of UP Legislative Council, Bukkal Nawab. 15-20 years ago these lands...6
were vacant but now we can see flats built on them. On the back side of Sheesh Mahal, there used to be small ponds which were illegally plotted and sold by the same person. There is also a piece of land on the opposite side of Clock Tower adjacent to the municipality office. 7
I believe the proposed museum could be built there. I still remember when Mulayam Singh Yadav became the CM of UP during 2003-2007, he allotted that land to Dr. Kalbe Sadiq, a Lucknow based religious cleric to build a degree college for girls. Later on, when Mayawati became.. 8
the CM, this allotment was cancelled. The value of this land runs in thousands of crore at present! Presently this land is being used by Uttar Pradesh Setu Nigam to store it's material for constructing a flyover starting from Company Bagh to Rajajipuram, 9
by the residents of Lajpat Nagar as dumping ground and also as a Bus parking stand. The Company Bagh flyover is also being built on the Husainabad Trust’s land and it is not recorded anywhere how this land was acquired by Setu Nigam from the Husainabad Trust. 10
Secondly, instead of spending crores of rupees on this museum, the government can put the money to good use by having the dilapidated heritage of Husainabad restored. There is already a picture gallery which has big portraits of Nawabs of Oudh.
On the central arch of Rumi Darwaza, a big crack is visible from years but no authorities have taken the initiative to repair it. Similarly, other heritage of Husainabad including Asifi Majid, Bara Imambara, Chota Imambara, Eastern and Western Gate of Husainabad are in very... 12
bad state. No government authority has taken any step to restore these structures. 13
