Telangana old secretariat complex demolition begins

HYDERABAD: With the clearance from the Telangana high court for construction of new secretariat a week ago, Telangana government started demolition of old secretariat buildings on Monday midnight. Of the four blocks in the secretariat complex, the demolition began with C block where the chief minister used to operate officially.
As some opposition parties were protesting construction of the new secretariat, officials cordoned off all the roads such as Necklace road, Khiartabad flyover and other roads leading to the secretariat.Fearing further opposition from parties and some groups, the officials kept it in secretariat and only half a dozen officers were informed about the operation.

Soon after getting clearance from the high court, the government asked various departments to shift their computer servers and abandoned vehicles from the old secretariat to pave way for demolition. Before starting demolition, chief secretary Somesh Kumar held a meeting with officials of Roads and Building department on Monday and took permission from chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is now at his farmhouse Erravelli in Gajwel to go ahead with demolition.

The ruling TRS government decided to construct a new secretariat complex on the existing secretariat location at a cost of Rs 400 crore. Foundation stone was laid for construction of a new secretariat by the CM in June, 2019 along with a new assembly building at Erramanzil last year. The government could not go ahead with the project due to court cases.

The state government reported that some blocks of the secretariat are in dilapidated condition and didn’t comply with fire safety measures. It is not possible to modify the existing buildings. Both minister’s committee and technical committee also recommend that the government may go for a new State of the art secretariat complex complying fire safety, NBC and IGBC norms befitting the stature of Telangana.
Telangana secretariat has been functioning from various buildings including BRKR Bhavan (temporary secretariat) since September last year and the offices are likely to function for two more years till the new buildings are constructed. A stone heritage building adjacent to the present secretariat was also vacated as the government wants to take over the land for a new secretariat.