A centuries-old stepwell inthe Hussain Shah Wali Dar-gah area has been fi��lled upafter a 10-year-old boy fromKurnool drowned whileplaying a few days ago.

The stepwell, whichserved the locality both as adrinking water source andfor irrigating fi��elds, has beenfi��lled up and levelled, and notrace of it remains, exceptfor a small stretch of the pa-rapet wall. “There is a ma-drasa in the area and chil-dren keep playing here. Wedidn’t want to take chancesafter the boy died,” says Ni-zamuddin, a madrasa offi��cialattached to the Bilal Masjid.

Photographs clicked by aheritage enthusiast, a fewdays before it was fi��lled up,show a deep well cut into therock with steps leading allthe way down. At an upperlevel was a row of archeswhere visitors could walkaround. A pulley arrange-

ment for drawing water fromthe well at a higher levelcompletes the picture. “Thewell was fenced with chickenmesh and there was a lockand key arrangement. Howthe boy reached the well un-detected and died remains amystery,” says Omer, whoruns a shop near the masjid.

“I came here from Delhiafter my marriage. We usedto grow rice and other cropsin the 10-acre area. Therewere two stepwells whichwere used for irrigating thefi��elds. I don’t know the fateof the other, but this one wasfi��lled up after the boy died,”says Suraiya Hussain Bose,

whose house abuts themasjid.

The stepwell and masjidare part of the old traderoute between Golcondaand Bidar connecting theShaikpet Serai area duringthe Qutb Shahi era, accord-ing to a path traced by histor-ian Robert Alan Simpkins.

Ancient stepwell sinks into oblivionCenturies-old structure fi��lled up and levelled after a recent drowning incidentSerish NanisettiHyderabad

Before and after: No trace remains of the stepwell (left),which was photographed by a heritage enthusiast a few daysago. * BY ARRANGEMENT