HYDERABAD: Being observed as a week-long festival for the first time this year, the ongoing heritage celebrations in the city will now become an annual event. This, tourism officials said, has been done to promote Hyderabad’s newly found status as the ‘best heritage city’ of India (it was recently awarded the title) and also spread awareness about ‘mana’ city’s rich history and tradition. Like this year, the celebrations will begin on World Heritage Day (April 18) every year.

The seven-day extravaganza, which is likely to get bigger and better from next year onwards, this time has an array of cultural events and exhibitions organized across Hyderabad’s iconic monuments. From musical and dances performances to stage plays, ‘mushairas’, poetry sessions and even art shows, the festival has been packaged to offer an authentic taste of Hyderabadi culture. Playing host to the celebrations that entered its third day on Friday are the Chowmahalla Palace, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Taramati Baradari and Salarjung Museum, among others. The venues, over the last few days, have been packed with both enthusiastic denizens and curious tourists. “Apart from the rush for the cultural programmes, even regular footfall to the palace has shot by close to 50 per cent owing to the heritage week,” said G Kishan Rao, director, Chowmahalla Palace. The historic site will have the likes of Pandit Birju Maharaj, Mangala Bhatt and Warsi brothers perform on its premises over the rest of the week. Qawwali, Ghazal and theatre productions by well-known artists from across the country will also be held at the Seven Tombs and Taramati Baradari.

“The events have been planned to showcase Hyderabad and its culture. It is like a curtain raiser to what heritage celebrations in the city would be in the future,” said Chandana Khan, principal secretary, tourism. While Khan claimed that the department had several plans in the pipeline to uplift the city’s history, she refused to divulge any further information. “As they are under discussion now it will be too premature to talk about them,” she said.

But while tourism officials are ecstatic about the ongoing festivities, heritage experts feel that the observance of such a week is ironic considering the current plight of Hyderabad’s ancient monuments and literature. Pointing out how the state government has consistently neglected the city’s past, they say that a heritage week is likely to do little good to uplift it. “The many centres like the Idara-e-Adabiyat-e-Urdu or the Fine Arts Academy that were vibrant forums upholding the rich culture of Hyderabad till the 1970s have now become defunct due to lack of funds and interest on the part of the authorities. Most listed structures too are crumbling. In such a scenario, these celebrations seem like mere tokenism,” said a heritage activist from the city.