The Pakistan Newswire
HYDERABAD, PAKISTAN, October 15, 2004: The 98-year old historic building Hindu Dharamshala on station road Hyderabad, one of remaining 63 buildings declared historic by government, was being dismantled by a builder to build a plaza in its place. This was one more example how the builder mafia was eroding the historical places of city. There were in all 175 such old buildings which the government had declared as historical and, out of these, 112 were already razed to ground. The builders have now turned to remaining historical places to mint money by dismantling them and making plazas there. Hindu Dharamshala was build by local trader Seth Mohandas Meghraj in 1906 for lodging of widows and orphans. After partition the building came under control of Pakistan’s Evacuee Property Trust which gave it to some families for residence. At present there are 22 homes and a like number of shops. There is also a temple in the building. The Evacuee Property Trust has now leased the building to a builder who has started to raze it to ground to make way for plaza.