NTR Gardens

 NTR Gardens is a small public, urban park of 15 hectares 36 acres adjacent to Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad, where earlier a thermal power station building stood until 1995. It is named after the former Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao. Constructed in several phases since 1999, the area that is predominantly a park is geographically located in the centre of the city, and is close to other tourist attractions such as Birla Mandir, Necklace Road and Lumbini Park. It is maintained by the Buddha Purnima Project Authority of the Government of Telangana.

History

Beginnings

The NTR Gardens is among the gardens in the vicinity of Hussain Sagar lake serving as a recreation park.

The land for the garden was cleared in 1995 after demolishing Hussain Sagar Thermal Power Station. In 1999, a land of 2.0 hectares 5 acres from a 22 hectares 55 acres plot was utilised for erecting a memorial for N. T. Rama Rao, the former Chief Minister of unbifurcated Andhra Pradesh. It was inaugurated by N. Chandrababu Naidu. It was planned to further expand this area, which has since been referred to as NTR Gardens, by constructing a museum about N. T. Rama Rao. This memorial was a part of the Buddha Purnima Project that was being handled by Hyderabad Urban Development Authority HUDA for the beautification and development of the Hussain Sagar lake and its surroundings as a major tourist attraction.

In 2000, the Government of Andhra Pradesh expressed its plans to develop this area with several projects such the NTR Gardens itself, a rock garden and an IMAX theatre. A few days later, a government official firstly said that the rock garden will be taken up by Dubai-based NRIs at a cost of 270 million equivalent to 1.1 billion or US13 million in 2023. Secondly the IMAX theatre project, which was said to cost ₹520 million equivalent to 2.1 billion or US25 million in 2023 was allotted to a private firm. Both these projects were to be executed in the same 22-hectare 55-acre plot which housed the memorial.