HYDERABAD: A fire broke out in the upper floor of a building — a heritage property — being used as a plastic godown in the Pucca Qila area on Sunday evening.

The fire broke out in the building — enlisted as Zakria Dawa Khana — in the street No.1 of the Pucca Qila area falling within the archaeological site.

Local residents entered the building along with Rescue-1122 staff to extinguish the fire. Two persons received injuries during the firefighting process. They were identified as Mr Habibur Rehman and Mr Sadiq Kazmi. Mr Rehman suffered head injuries while Mr Kazmi had his one leg broken and was shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) for treatment.

The fire caused extensive damage to the entire structure on the upper floor. However, what was more shocking was the massive digging clandestinely carried out on the ground floor of the heritage property. The building had remained locked and that’s why the digging activity inside could not be seen. Nobody had the idea of it until the fire broke out and the ground floor gate had to be unlocked.

Blaze destroys godown on upper floor; officials find secretly carried out massive digging on ground floor

The property in question is owned by Mr Fahad and Mr Faisal. Portions of building were rented out to different people. One of the portions was being used for herbal medicine production and another one as the plastic goods godown.

During the firefighting process, some local residents informed AC City Noor Hussain and officials of the culture department about the unauthorised activity on the ground floor. The AC got the lock of the main entrance broken to examine the ground floor space only to find the massive digging having been carried out.

“I was shocked to see the massive digging. Construction material like gravel was lying there. The space was utterly in a bad shape indeed,” Mr Noor told Dawn. He said the owner might be trying to create more space within the premises for commercial purposes and that’s why such digging was done. “The floor was completely dug up and this forced me to seal it off,” the AC stated.

Mr Noor inquired from Mr Rukunuddin, a local official of the culture department, about the unauthorised activity but he expressed his unawareness about it. He told the AC that the department would usually examine heritage buildings from outside. The AC was also surprised to hear the official’s lack of such knowledge because the culture department’s office is located inside the Pucca Qila. The AC has directed culture department officials to lodge an FIR against occupants / tenant of the premises.

Locals claim that it was the second incident of fire in less than two years’ time in the building.

The property is at serial No. 64 on the heritage properties list of Hyderabad. The fort’s street No.1 has most of the city’s heritage sites.

Cylinder blast, fire

Another fire broke out in an LPG cylinder outlet within the Ghumanabad area in the early hours of Sunday.

Rescue-1122 staff and firefighters rushed to the spot. MPA Nasir Qureshi and Hyderabad SSP Shahzeb Chachar also visited the site.

Reports said that the fire broke out after a cylinder exploded in the outlet. The fire affected seven nearby shops and a house. Since the shops appeared closed in the early morning time, the Rescue-1122 staff had to break their locks during the process of extinguishing the blaze.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2026