Not a boulder of Deccan platue
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As our Institute at Hyderabad started constructing a new building, we found a huge boulder on the site. Such boulders and rocks are common place in Hyderabad (and indeed in the Deccan region) and many builders have simply blasted them away to make room for buildings. As Hyderabad expanded during the last four decades, much of the landscape has been remarkably changed from a series of boulders to high-rise buildings.
This irreversible change in the landscape has bothered many, and the conservation group “Save the Rocks” at Hyderabad has canvassed against such thoughtless blasting of these natural gifts and for conserving them as much as possible. These have borne some fruit as some architects have come out with ingenious plans to build houses and complexes around the boulders, or making the boulders as part of the plan. We too decided to do so and made the boulder part of the ground floor of the new building, where it ushers visitors.
This is yet another example of the debate between ecology and environment on one hand and development and economic demands on the other, but with a different focus. Boulders of Deccan are not ‘green’, they play no role in agriculture, water or the livelihood of the people in any significant way. While we understand the role of other ecosystems such as mangroves, forests or animal sanctuaries, of what use are these stones and rocks?