Mir Alam Tank

Filed under Attractions

Most people and tourists are familiar with India’s Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, in the state of Telangana, and with good reason. It is, after all, the largest zoo in India, with a wide selection of animals; nearly 1,500 species of birds, reptiles, and animals are housed there. It also has a museum of natural history, elephant rides, and children’s train. Also, the safari trips it runs daily are pretty much popular for everyone. It is understandable, then, if visitors are not able to notice another tourist attraction in the area, but it would really be a shame when they do. After all, the Mir Alam Tank has contributed incessantly to the city for the past 200-odd years since it was built; it has provided drinking water to the people of Hyderabad for 125 years before both Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs were finally built. During that time, waters coming from Mir Alam Tank were said to be so sweet and pure that people who have tasted it were said to have carried containers of it whenever they went out of Hyderabad.

The Mir Alam Tank is located 16 kilometers away from the airport, and is just adjacent to the Nehru Zoological Park so getting there is just as easy as stopping by the zoo. It was built by the then Prime Minister of Hyderabad state Mir Alam Bahadur, during the reign of the third Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Akbar Ali Khan Sikander Jah Asif Jah III. Mir Alam himself laid the foundation for the construction of the tank on July 20, 1804. The whole project was completed almost two years later, on June 8, 1806. The engineering that went with the construction of the tank is truly something to be appreciated: a mile long bund is formed with 21 semi-circular arches, giving the whole thing a really majestic look. An interesting tidbit in its planning was that Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, the Frenchman to whom Hyderabad’s Raymond Tomb was dedicated, was also said to be involved in its planning.

Aside from the wonderful view, espeically during monsoon season when the tank starts to work overtime, another activity that is popular with tourists and visitors is boating. The Telangana Tourism operates boats on the lake, for which one has to enter via the zoo. Some of the speedboats in the lake are even used when shooting films that require such scenes.

Comments

Comments are closed.