Political storm erupts in Telangana as old Secretariat building in Hyderabad demolished

Hyderabad: Residents of Hyderabad city were surprised to see the demolition of decades-old Secretariat building, facing the famous Hussainsagar lake, at the stroke of midnight on Monday (July 7). Police personnel blocked every road leading to the Secretariat in the morning and that's when everyone in the city came to know about the big demolition.

Armed with High Court clearance, the Telangana government started the demolition to construct a brand new Secretariat in place of the existing one. The issue has earlier raised a huge political storm with the opposition parties accusing the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)-led government of "ignoring" the severe COVID-19 pandemic situation and taking up the construction activity for a new Secretariat.

"It clearly shows the lopsided priority of the TRS government. At a time when the state is in severe financial distress due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation, what was the need to go for the construction of new Secretariat building? The same construction money could have been used to pay salaries of government employees, help poor, and those who have lost jobs," charged Dr Sravan Dasoju, spokesperson, AICC.

The Secretariat premises, which is functioning from the last five decades, once had administrative offices of Nizam. Spread across 25 acres, this was a power center till the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Since Telangana state was formed, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao choose not to function from here due to "Vastu dosha".

"KCR is behaving like a dictator. Though the Telangana High Court has given the green signal, KCR should have at least postponed the construction and instead should have used the money in increasing Covid-19 tests across the state. The situation arising due to Covid-19 is precarious in the state. KCR is interested only for name and fame and is not worried to save people's lives in this hour of need," says NV Subash, spokesperson, Telangana BJP.

Not bothered with criticism, the Telangana Chief Minister's office, however, has released a design of the new Secretariat building.

"Building of new Secretariat was envisaged a few years back. What's wrong in going ahead with the construction.  Telangana High Court has also given green signal. Chief Minister KCR feels all the administration work should be carried out from one place and the present premises is not suitable," said B Vinod Kumar, vice-chairman Telangana planning commission.

It is expected to cost a staggering Rs 500 crores approx to build this new Secretariat which will have six lakh sq ft built-up area. It is expected to take at least 2-3 years to complete the project.