Visakhapatnam: 16th Century European cemetery neglected

Visakhapatnam: The 16th Century European cemetery located in Old Town has a highly significant history of the city and the valiant fight for India's freedom etched on it. However, the proposal to honour it as a protected monument is heading nowhere.

Two years have elapsed since the proposal was sent by the Vizag Archaeology wing to the directorate of archaeology and museum, urging it to include the cemetery under the protected monuments list, but to no avail.

The assistant director of archaeology and museums (Vizag division) K. Chitti Babu said, “The cemetery carried importance not only at state level, but also national level. Two years ago, I had proposed the directorate office to ensure protection of the monument by naming it a protected monument. Unfortunately, there is no reply from their side.”

The cemetery would be the first protected monument in the city limits if the proposal is accepted, he said, adding that protected monuments could avail funds from the archaeology department. The Archaeological Sur-vey of India (ASI) could also offer its expertise to conserve the monument.

He further said Syed Ali Ishaq Madani Dargah is also an important monument and should be protected. The heritage buildings in the city limits are being taken care of by a heritage committee form-ed by the local municipal corporation and Visakha-patnam Urban Develop-ment Authority (VUDA). The cemetery is witness to two important events in the nation’s history.

According to retired history professor of Andhra University Kolluru Surya-narayana, while all history books have been referring to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 as the “First war of Indian Independence”, fact is that a Sepoy Mutiny took place earlier to that, in 1780 in Visakhapatnam, and this is mentioned in the British records. Three British officers had been killed in the mutiny, and the graveyard of one of them is present in the cemetery.

The second was the Naval War of 1804, between the British and the French, where the British were able to successfully defend Vizagapatam, but lost John Dykes, who was also buried in the cemetery.

INTACH member Edward Paul said, “The cemetery getting recognition as a protected monument would come in handy unless the archaeology department allots funds and maintains it properly unlike its indifferent attitude shown towards maintenance of other monuments in Vizag division.”