Congress on Poru Bata to save Secretariat

Hyderabad: The State Congress has launched 'Poru Bata' against the construction of new State secretariat and Assembly buildings.

Strongly opposing Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's decision to demolish the existing secretariat and also historical Errum Manzil Palace for the construction of Assembly complex, Congress senior leaders on Monday inspected the secretariat and also the old Assembly buildings to ascertain the durability of existing buildings in the two premises.

Minor scuffle took place at Assembly and secretariat when the police did not allow some Congress leaders to enter the premises. Congress senior leader and former MP VH Hanumantha Rao took strong exception for denying him entry into the Assembly.

However, he managed to go along with other leaders after heated argument with the police forces. Congress senior leaders Bhatti Vikramarka, T Jeevan Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, and MP A Revanth Reddy are among the senior leaders who inspected the offices.

Vikramarka said they have visited the secretariat to tell the people about the actual status and truth about the secretariat.

Noting that the State has been formed to fulfil the dreams and aspirations of Telangana people, the Congress leader felt that it would have been better if the government had focused on construction of double bed-room houses, recruitment for government jobs and boosting agriculture.

Stating that the present Secretariat was constructed to meet all the requirements of previous undivided Andhra Pradesh, Bhatti said the secretariat and the legislature building complexes have all required infrastructure to meet the needs of undivided State.

He alleged that the State government was misleading the people on the issue. He said all the blocks in the secretariat were constructed between 10 years to 30 years ago.

Revanth alleged that K Chandrashekar Rao was misleading the people due to his superstitions. He said all the blocks in the Secretariat are sufficient for the next 100 years, but they were not used for more than 30 years.

He said the total market value of the existing Secretariat building complex was Rs 1,000 crore.

He alleged that the Chief Minister would increase the cost of the proposed Secretariat complex from Rs 400 crore after completion. He made it clear that the Congress party would not accept the decision of the State government to construct a new secretariat and legislature building complexes in the city.

The Congress leader demanded that the Chief Minister build buildings to provide LKG to PG education.

Stating that he had filed a writ petition in High Court opposing the demolition of the Secretariat building complex, Revanth demanded that the State government withdraw its decision immediately.