Railways revive 200-year-old heritage step-well in Secunderabad

Going beyond its call of duty of hauling goods and transporting people across the country, the South Central Railway is also contributing to preserving India’s heritage and monuments. This came to the fore when the zone rejuvenated the 200-year-old Heritage Well at its Zonal Railway Training Institute located at Secunderabad’s Moula-Ali.

Apart from preserving history, this initiative will help in conservation and revival of water bodies. In fact, this particular well has been taking care of the water requirements of the ZRTI for more than 50 years. With a depth of 50 feet, the well yields 1 lakh litres of water every day which is used for the needs of ZRTI, Supervisors Training Centre, and Territorial Camp office.

Provision has been made to cover the well with nylon mesh which will help to keep the water clean by not allowing leaves and other material to contaminate it. Further, while pumping the water, chlorination is also done to improve its quality.

The well is well maintained and cleaned regularly while beautification has been done with fresh painting and decorative LED lighting.

To improve water conservation, rain water harvesting pits have been provided in the surrounding areas of the well to reduce rainwater runoff.

It was in 1966 that SCR got rights over this well which belongs to the pre-independence era of the Nizam period. It is said to have been used by Sir Mir Turab Ali Khan, Salar Jung-I for getting mango gardens irrigated. For the convenience of the staff who did the irrigation work, a set of 10 rooms was built parallel to the north side of the well.

SCR spent Rs.6 lakh on this project and it is expected that this revival will help it to save Rs.5 lakh per month.

Appreciating the effort taken by Hyderabad Division and ZRTI to revive the step-well, Arun Kumar Jain, General Manager, said: “SCR is committed towards environmental conservation and is continuously implementing several green initiatives and eco-friendly plans of action.”