Hyderabad: A portion in one of the pillars of Hyderabad’s historic Charminar fell off, raising concerns about the 428-year-old structure.

At about 11.30 pm on Wednesday, a part of the ornamental stucco work of the minaret measuring about 2.5m by .80m on the Laad Bazar side of the monument fell.

Officials said that a round of unseasonal rain in the city had forced a piece of lime stucco work on one of its four 56-metre-tall minarets to fall.

The chunk detached from the granite slab on the minaret that faces the Mecca Masjid and fell off the pillar.

Fortunately police confirmed that no one was injured in the mishap.

Police have cordoned off the area where the chunk fell, as a large crowd from the locality had gathered to see the mess.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had undertaken restoration work on the monument, giving it a tiara coating along with some minor repairs. Despite this, a portion of the minaret fell.

The incident has raised concerns among the heritage lovers about the safety of the monument. The monument and the locality attracts thousands of tourists.

MyNation did in fact, try to get in a word from ASI’s superintending archaeologist in Hyderabad. But we were told that he is unavailable for comment.

Reports said that the ASI has assured that the restoration work will be done as soon as possible.

Recently, the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project (CPP) was taken up, and that pedestrianised a radius of 220 metre around Charminar by diverting vehicular traffic through the Inner Ring Road (IRR) and the Outer Ring Road (ORR).

Charminar, which in Urdu means four minarets, was built by Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. It stands at a whopping 160 feet from ground level.