HYDERABAD: Following the neglect of the last few decades, the 118-year-old famous Besant Hall of Hyderabad is undergoing preservation work for the first time in its history.

Such task is assigned to the Endowment Fund Trust (EFT), an autonomous non-profit organisation established by the Sindh government in August 2008.

Besant Hall is named after Dr Annie Besant. She was counted among co-founders of present-day Government College Kali Mori that was upgraded as Hyderabad district’s first public sector university (at least as per official documentation though it is yet to start as a fully-fledged university) on the eve of the college’s centennial celebrations by the Pakistan Peoples Party’ government led by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

British-born Dr Besant was a theosophist and was leading light of The Theosophical Society which she led till her death in 1933 after joining it in 1889. Besant Hall is believed to have been built by The Theosophical Society in 1901. Senior teachers and professors — associated with now Government College University — on the basis of their knowledge of history say Dr Annie Besant had visited Hyderabad sometime in 1917 and attended a meeting at the residence of Diwan Heranand Santokram where it was decided that the city must have a college.

College’s first principal Dr Ernest Egerton Wood in his book Is this Theosophy has written that she was interned by the British government in the summer of 1917 as she had deep interests in Indian politics and founded Home Rule League.

This building off Miran Mohammad Shah Road is on serial number two of the list of heritage buildings issued by the Sindh culture and antiquities department. The society did not have funds and capacity to preserve the 118-year-old heritage, thus it stood neglected over the past several decades although alterations/additions were made in the building, according to EFT’s regional coordinator Ishtiaq Ansari.

Ansari is one of the signatories of the agreement signed on April 5, 2019 between the EFT, civil administration and The Theosophical Society Hyderabad. Abrar Kazi signed the document as society’s president.

“We plan to spend Rs10 million on Besant Hall’s preservation in one year,” says Ansari while supervising the civil work that is under way at the building currently facing the menace of encroachment in the shape of pushcarts and parking. “Some unauthorised structures, including a room and latrines, on building’s premises were built, but they have now been demolished,” he adds.

A group of people had staged a protest demonstration a few days ago, claiming that the heritage was being demolished to meet the interests of builder mafia. Later, it turned out to be preservation work started by the EFT but Dastagir Bhatti, a writer, fears the building should not fall prey to the greed of some builders as this mafia has always been poised to lay hands on such buildings.

The building, according to Ansari, is made of mud and gypsum and over the years, conventional kind of repair work was made in and outside it that did not gel with its architecture.

It was plastered wherever needed. Small drains from adjacent residential and commercial areas run parallel to the building and the seepage kept damaging its foundations. “We have opened around five foot area in the surroundings of the main building to offset the impact of seepage and we are removing multiple layers of plaster in order to restore original bricks used in the building,” informs Ansari.

According to him, plaster work has blocked air passage in bricks and caused moisture in the building. Eventually cracks developed all over the structure. Its tiers and girder are rusted due to rainwater that finds its way through cracks. And now they need replacement. Similarly, floor in the courtyard had undergone repair work which was not in line with building’s originality.

As one goes upstairs, one room each is located on its right and left side. The right-side room is named as Dewan Metharam Gidumal free library while left side’s as Bhai Gangam Tilockhand reading room. There is a courtyard and a bridge room on the rear on southern side of the building. One Kamlesh Kumar of the society is living in this portion since 2008 as its caretaker, but the EFT now seeks to get this premises vacated from him for which EFT secretary Hamid Akhund has written a letter to Hyderabad divisional commissioner Abbas Baloch on Oct 2.

Besant Hall is faced with encroachment in shape of illegal parking currently. It has been misused for hosting weddings as well.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019