Hyderabad: From Nizams till Kiran Kumar Reddy's regime

Hyderabad: The 132-year-old state Secretariat, which witnessed governance from the Nizam era till the state was bifurcated in 2014, stood the test of time and the rise and fall of several governments. It was razed to the ground on Tuesday.

Though a new iconic building is likely to come up in its place, the demolition of one of the few surviving symbols of Hyderabadi heritage will become a part of history. Though in the past the previous chief ministers had constructed new buildings in the sprawling 25.5-acre premises and created a built-up area of 9.16-lakh square feet, no one had thought of demolishing the heritage buildings.

One of the buildings was constructed in 1888 during the times of Seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last ruler of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. Known as Saifabad Palace and built in European architecture, it used to house the office of Nizam's Prime Minister till Hyderabad's accession to the Indian Union in 1948.

Over a period, the complex got 10 blocks and all the Chief Ministers till N T Rama Rao's time worked from G Block. After N T Rama Rao became the Chief Minister, he decided to give a Telugu name to each block for easy identification. The G Block was known as Sarvahita.

Later, when Dr M Chenna Reddy succeeded him, he constructed B Block and C Blocks citing Vastu as the reason in August 1978. He shifted his office to the C Block and from then till 2014 when Kiran Kumar Reddy presided over the bifurcation of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, all the Chief Ministers functioned from the C Block. This block was named as Samatha.

The old H Block, which was constructed during the Nizam's time, was demolished when Chandrababu Naidu was the CM. The old D Block, which was constructed by the eNizams, too was demolished and a new structure came up there in 2003.

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, J, K, L and H (South and North) blocks in the secretariat complex were handed over to Andhra Pradesh. After the YSRCP came to power in Andhra Pradesh, the AP government agreed to hand over the blocks to Telangana for the construction of a new secretariat building.