Fading urban memories: status of conservation of historic Samsthan/Zamindari Palaces in Small and medium town master plans in Telangana, India
‘Public memores’ are an imporant aspect in preserving a place’s culture and heritage. Actions of the government and society many times define/redefine identities of places, impacting collective memory of people in perceiving places. Conscious efforts are required to make and keep public memories alive. Insensitive and uninformed Urban Planning can lead to erasing history and heritage not just physically but from public memories as well. This Paper discusses the issues of Fading Urban Memories by taking case studies of two historic towns in the South Indian State of Telangana. Most of the Small & Medium Towns in Telangana, India, developed over the last two centuries from their historic core areas of the Capitals of erstwhile Samsthans/Zamindaris, land revenue admistration units/sub-regional authorities under the British and the Princely States’ Rulesin India till Independence in 1947. These Samsthans/Zamindars/ Jagirdars were ‘Chieftains’ of their own territories and ruled from ‘Palaces’ located in their Capital city/town. The palaces and historic areas of old Samsthan/Zamindari settlements represent local histories whose significance, memory, heritage needs to be preserved for posterity. Gadwa and Wanaparthy were two such towns, which developed mid-17 Century onwards becoming present day Municipalities of different Grades. The Department of Town and Country Planning, Govt. Of Telangana, prepares Master Plans for development of Municipalities. The surviving Fort/Palaces is marked by their present land use in the development plans, unrecognized for thier heritage status, thus posing threat to heritage being erased from collective Urban memory. The case studies presented in this paper are from the ongoing doctoral research work being done by the author at School of Planning and Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, on the topic of ‘Planning for Conservation of Samshtan/Zamindari Palaces of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh’.