Hussain Sagar

Hussain Sagar is a 6 sq km artificial lake commissioned in 1563 by Hussain Shah Wali under Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali, primarily as a reservoir to supply Hyderabad with water and to irrigate surrounding agricultural land. It separates the older city of Hyderabad to the south from the cantonment city of Secunderabad to the north — the bund and the parallel Tank Bund Road have been the principal connection for 460 years. The lake's modern centerpiece is the Monolith Buddha — an 18-metre, 350-tonne single-rock Buddha statue installed on a small island in 1992 (the original 1990 installation famously sank during transport, killing 8 workers). It is among the largest single-piece stone Buddha statues in the world. The Tank Bund itself is lined with 33 bronze sculptures of Telugu cultural figures — poets, scholars, freedom fighters — installed during the 1980s under Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao. Pedalboats and motor launches operate from the Lumbini Park ghat for the Buddha-statue circuit. Sunset is when most of Hyderabad heads to the Tank Bund. The water has been heavily polluted for decades; an ongoing rejuvenation programme is gradually improving conditions.