New Secretariat opening likely on Ugadi day

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Saturday said the inauguration of the state's new secretariat which was scheduled on February 17 has been postponed owing to the poll code. In all probability, it would now be inaugurated on Ugadi day.

The Election Commission on February 9 released the schedule for two seats of the Telangana Legislative Council, along with 13 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. The ECI, which announced that notifications for these elections will be issued on February 16, had said the model code of conduct for these elections would come into force with immediate effect in the constituencies concerned. Polls for the Mahbubnagar- Rangareddy- Hyderabad Teachers' constituency and Hyderabad Local Authorities' constituency will be held on March 13.

As the election code is in place, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari held consultations with the Election Commission about the inauguration of the Secretariat scheduled on February 17. As the response from the ECI was not promising, the inauguration has been postponed for now.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had decided to invite Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, JD(U) national president Lalan Singh as representative of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar among other dignitaries would attend the inaugural ceremony which was to be followed by a public meeting at Parade Grounds. The new date for inauguration would be decided after consulting these leaders. The building is likely to become fully functional by August this year and all departments would shift back to the Secretariat by October.