Iran to fund Rs. 200-cr. heritage project

HYDERABAD: The Government of Iran will fund a Rs. 200-crore project at Hyderabad to develop seven famous tombs of the Nizam period as also Premamati Mosque and Badshahi Ashur Khana as sites of heritage and culture.

Iran has chosen these structures for its project as all of them were said to have been constructed under the supervision of architects brought from Iran at that time.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Syed Mohd. Ali Shaeedi told reporters after discussions with Minister for Minorities Welfare Mohd. Ali Shabbir here on Thursday, that the proposal for the project was lying with the Centre and sought the AP government’s intervention to facilitate its clearance at the earliest.
Ancient ties

Mr. Shaeedi said Iran’s ties with India dated back to thousands of years and it had several connections with Hyderabad in particular.

The first consulate in Hyderabad was established by Iran 38 years ago. “Iranian families here are happy with the Hyderabadi hospitality.”

He said: “Our love for India is such that when India is developed, we feel our own country is developed. We always want to strengthen our age-old ties with India. To achieve this goal, the Iranian President visited New Delhi six months ago.”
Exchanges

Mr. Shaeedi offered to facilitate exchange of visits of teams from both nations, saying this would facilitate signing of MoUs, covering different areas.

Mr. Shabbir said there were 5,000 Iranians in Hyderabad at present while another 2,000 students from that country were pursuing studies in various Indian universities.