The Secunderabad Martyrs Memorial at the Gen K V Krishna Rao Parade Ground will be relocated to make way for a proposed elevated corridor linking Gymkhana Grounds with Shamirpet via State Highway-1, also known as Rajiv Rahadari, Telangana Today reported on October 17.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) plans to construct a replacement memorial at a nearby location within the 20-acre Secunderabad Cantonment parade ground. The new structure is estimated to cost Rs 5 crore and will be built with landscaped lawns and an expanded architectural layout, according to HMDA sources cited by the publication.
The relocation is connected to land acquisition for the elevated corridor. HMDA is acquiring land extending up to 20 metres from the road running alongside the existing memorial platform inside the parade ground. Demarcation of the land required for acquisition was completed a few years ago, the report said.
Defence authorities have agreed to shift the existing memorial to another location within the parade ground, according to the HMDA sources. Officials said the replacement site would provide an unobstructed view and a more dedicated setting for remembrance away from the noise of the main highway.
Platform work for the new memorial is already under way at Parade Ground and is expected to be completed by December. Installation of the replacement memorial is scheduled for March or April 2027, HMDA sources said.
The shift will be the second relocation of a memorial connected with the proposed elevated corridor. A decades-old World War II memorial outside Parade Ground has also been moved to make way for the project.
The existing Martyrs Memorial, popularly known as ‘Veerula Sainik Smarak’, was dedicated to armed forces martyrs by Surjith Singh Barnala, then Governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh, on June 15, 2003, according to an inscription on a stone near the structure. Renovation work at the memorial began in August 2020.
The elevated corridor is proposed to connect Gymkhana Grounds to the Outer Ring Road at Shamirpet through the Rajiv Rahadari route. The latest relocation plan places the memorial works alongside the corridor’s land acquisition process, with platform completion and installation of the replacement structure forming the next stated milestones.
