Telangana cabinet gives nod for construction of new secretariat complex

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has approved the Cabinet sub-committee's report recommending construction of a new secretariat complex in the city as it would not be feasible to modify the existing one.

According to an official release issued by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's office on Thursday night, the cabinet sub-committee held detailed discussions with regard to the technical committee's report and recommended construction of a new secretariat complex.

The technical committee appointed by the cabinet sub-committee recommended construction of a new secretariat complex by demolishing the present one as it would not be feasible to modify it to make it compliant with fire safety and other norms.

The panel opined it was not possible to modify or alter the existing facilities to create a befitting, iconic and integrated Secretariat complex, the release said.

"... and strongly recommend the government may consider construction of new state-of-the-art Secretariat complex complying with fire safety, NBC (National Building Code) and IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) norms befitting the stature of Telangana," the committee had said.

The Telangana Cabinet had earlier appointed a Group of Ministers headed by Road and Buildings Minister V Prashanth Reddy to look into matters on the construction of new secretariat and Assembly complexes.

The Cabinet had endorsed the final decision-making choice on the building designs to the Chief Minister.

"The recommendations of the technical committee were discussed in detail in the Cabinet-Sub-Committee on 28.08.2019 and the Sub Committee concurs with the opinion of the Technical Committee and recommends the construction of the new

Secretariat Complex. The cabinet Sub-Committee submitted its report four days ago," the release said.

The technical committee has obtained reports from the Director General, Disaster Response and Fire Services and Indian Green Building Council on the status of compliance of fire safety and green building norms in the present Secretariat premises, it said.