Hyderabad: 6 baolis being restored in Qutb Shahi Heritage Park

Hyderabad: All of the six baolis (stepwells) in the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park will soon be fully restored and open to the public. The wells will all be functional and will be able to store a combined 19.3 million litres of rainwater.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has been working on restoring the Qutb Shahi tombs to their full glory for the past many years. The six baolis- Badi, Hamam, Bagh, Western, Idgah and Eastern- are all fully restored.

One of the baolis was restored with help from the Tata group’s grants, and the remaining five were funded by the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (USACP).

“The baolis themselves have been fully restored, and the conservation project is complete. The development of the surrounding areas is underway. Altogether, the project should be fully completed in another one month,” said Yoshowanth, project director.

All of the six baolis are fully functional. They were originally designed to hold rainwater so it can be later used for agriculture and irrigation. The biggest step-well on the premises, the Badi Baoli, was fully restored in 2016 after a part of it had collapsed due to heavy rains.

Since its restoration, almost 2 crore liters stored in the Badi baoli have been used for construction and irrigation projects.

“The six baolis, and one well, are strategically placed around the tombs so all the rainwater can drain into them. Over the years, a lot of alterations were made to the grading levels. Therefore, during our efforts, we placed trench drains and catch basins to ensure that rain water reached the wells,” said Yoshowanth

Three of the baolis are entirely full and the rest are almost at full capacity, he added.

On Sunday, urban development special chief secretary Arvind Kumar said that a total of 18 wells were restored by the state government.