Demolition of historic Telangana secretariat building begins; new complex to cost around Rs 400 cr

The Chandrashekhar Rao-led dispensation in Telangana on Tuesday began razing of the old secretariat building complex here, which has stood the test of time and witnessed the rise and fall of several governments. The move comes days after the Telangana High Court dismissed a bunch of PILs challenging the state's decision to construct a new secretariat complex by demolishing the existing one."The demolition of the secretariat building began during wee hours of Tuesday and it will go on today," official sources said. The chief minister's office on Tuesday released the elevation design of the proposed "integrated secretariat new building,"which would come up at the existing site.The communication from KCR's office said Rao may approve the design. Rao laid the foundation stone for the new administrative complex on 27 June last year.However, later some public interest litigations (PIL) were filed in the High Court against the construction of the new one alleging that it would cause unnecessary burden on the state's exchequer.The state government earlier indicated that the new secretariat which would come up in about four lakh sq-ft would cost around Rs 400 crore and it had decided to equip the new Secretariat complex with state-of-the-art connectivity and other features.According to government sources, the new secretariat will be fully "Vaastucompliant." Opposition parties have protested the construction of new secretariat buildings by demolishing some of the existing structures.Chief Spokesperson of Telangana BJP, K Krishna Saagar Rao in a statement on Tuesday said the party strongly protests the 'atrocious action' of the TRS government in demolishing the old secretariat buildings for false prestige of KCR in the midst of a global pandemic crisis."While Chief Ministers across the country are busy building infrastructure to accommodate COVID-19 patients, unfortunately Telangana has a Chief Minister, who is busy demolishing the existing infrastructure, which can easily be turned into a massive facility to accommodate thousands of COVID-19 patients," he said.The BJP strongly believes that the old secretariat buildings complex could have been easily converted into a 20,000 bed facility. As the buildings are located in the heart of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, it could have been the ideal location to use for COVID-19 treatment.