The rupiahs that goes down in the lake

HYDERABAD: Thousands of plaster of Paris (PoP) Ganesh idols ' both small and big ' go into the Hussainsagar lake year after year. And despite many studies pointing to this as the reason behind the incredulous toxification of the water, it is still religiously practiced. Sure, the lake has endured and survived for centuries, but begs the question: when does it become too much?

While on one side we are spending money on an evergreen project that only has an increased influx of toxins every year, have you ever wondered how much it costs in the first place to even build a lake? Considered one of India's biggest man-made lakes, Hussainsagar was once the source of drinking water (imagine that!) for the kingdom of Golconda.

Dug up 451 years ago, many historical texts state that a sum of 2,54,000 rupiah was spent on the lake measuring around 1600 hectares (4000 acres). The project was executed by Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali, an architect and son-in-law of Sultan Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah between 1559 and 1562. The lake, however, has over the decades, shrunk to a mere 350ha and crores of money is being spent from the government exchequer for its restoration.

To get a better understanding of what the values of 2,54,000 rupiah is, noted historian Md Safiullah, who is also the managing trustee of Deccan Heritage Trust, explains, 'Each rupaiah was 96 paise and each paise had four parts called jittal/gani.

Also each rupaiah coin weighed around 11.66 grams of silver and multiples of rupaiah were the gold coins which were called huns (used in the Vijayanagara kingdom). With each gram of silver equivalent to around `50 per gram today, simple mathematics would take the figure to an incredible amount.'

According to him, the Rupaiah was first introduced by Sher Shah of the Suri dynasty of Delhi in 1539 and was adopted by the Qutb Shahis.

If you've already taken out your calculators and arrived at a spectacular number that seems hard to believe, 2,54,000 rupiah for the construction of the lake in 1562 is indeed impossible to comprehend in terms of the present value of the rupee.

Agreeing Md Safiullah says, 'An inflated adjusted value of the sum would be beyond our comprehension but some simple mathematics can give an approximate figure. Keep in mind though, that the value of metal has multiplied 500 times in 500 years.' Nevertheless, it does not diminish the extravagant value of the project.

The contruction of Hussainsagar is also noteworthy for it's 'food for work' principle. It provided employment to about 3000 people in a drought prone region, paying in kind.

'The construction of this project was also aimed at providing employment to people during a time of severe drought. It was not a money economy but the purchasing power of the currency was huge. A male worker was remunerated with food worth two jittal whereas a female worker one,' the historian shares.

Whether the project seems ambitious and extravagant in retrospect, a cumulative calculation of our current expenditure will also lead to a similarly incomprehensible figure.

Presently, `310 crores is being spent by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and 60 crores by the State government under the Hussainsagar Lake and Catchment Area Improvement Project launched in 2006.

So far, around `300 crores has been spent, completeing about 70 per cent of the work. Also, every year, about `1 lakh is spent for clearing up the debris post the immersion by civic bodies. Now calculate that!