Visakhapatnam: Buddhist stupa falls after rains

Visakhapatnam: Heavy rains over the past 24 hours caused the collapse of a 2,000-year-old Buddhist monument in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

The dome of the Maha Stupa of a monument in Thotlakonda on the Visakhapatnam-Bheemili beach road was damaged by rains. It is a protected monument on the outskirts of the city, under the department of archaeology, Andhra Pradesh.

This monument has been damaged several times but was reconstructed each time. In 2015, the dome was reconstructed by age-old gumming. However, the rain undid the gumming of the bricks and the roof collapsed, according to department assistant director,
S. Venkat Rao.

This department spotted and excavated the monument in the 1980s. A Budd-hist complex is believed to have flourished here about 2,000 years ago. A tank on the monument’s south was the water source for a monastery.

The department’s engineering officials are headed for Visakhapatnam to assess the loss and draft a plan for the dome’s reconstruction, Rao said.