T'gana CM lays foundation stone for construction of new Secretariat buildings

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on June 27 laid the foundation stone for the construction of new Secretariat buildings here at the existing location.

The "Bhumi puja" was performed at the D Block in the Secretariat complex situated near the picturesque Hussain Sagar lake.

Several state ministers, including A Indrakaran Reddy and Vemula Prashant Reddy, TRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao and Chief Secretary SK Joshi were among those present on the occasion.

Once the designs are finalised, some of the old buildings located in the existing Secretariat would be demolished as per requirement, a senior official has said.

The Telangana Cabinet has recently appointed a Group of Ministers headed by Road and Buildings Minister V Prashanth Reddy on the construction of new secretariat building.

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

The state government also indicated that the new secretariat which would come up in about four lakh sq-ft would cost around Rs 400 crore.

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao alleged he was not allowed by police to organise a planned protest against the construction of new Secretariat buildings, by demolishing some of the existing structures.

"If protest is not allowed, what is the state of democracy in Telangana," the BJP leader asked.

Andhra Pradesh last week handed over all the four blocks (in the Secretariat complex) which were under its control to the Telangana government paving way for it to construct a new Secretariat.

The Andhra Pradesh government was allotted four blocks in the secretariat complex here after bifurcation of the state in 2014, as Hyderabad was made common capital for both the states for a period not exceeding 10 years.

The Telangana government is in the process of identifying office space for accommodating staff during the construction of a new secretariat complex.