Rockscape of Hyderabad

Hyderabad is blessed with a unique landscape: spectacular ancient rock formations - though almost extinct in the centre of the expanding metropolis - still dot its suburban expanses: Granite ridges and hillocks weathered into picturesque balancing forms, part of the Deccan Shield area. Geologists date these rocks to 2,500 million years back, amongst the oldest and hardest rocks in the world.

Uncontrolled quarrying and destruction for the sake of building material and more building space threatens to make these rocks a thing of the past. But do we have to destroy a unique asset that other cities would be proud to possess? We should realise that our rocky hillocks lend themselves to great nature and adventure parks. Nature is recreation for the body and the soul - and we are sorely in need of more recreation areas for the increasing millions of our city.

Hyderabad is growing its concrete monuments at a crazy pace. But every visitor to Hyderabad admires the balancing boulders of our landscapes with awe. The indiscriminate cutting down of the rocks is seen with dismay. We need to protect rock formations as natural monuments. They cannot be reproduced by man. They are simply priceless!!!