Telangana High Court gives green signal to demolish secretariat building

Telangana: Agreeing on the government's argument, the Telangana High Court on Monday gave a green signal to demolish secretariat building paving the way for the construction of the new building.

The court was dealing with 10 petitions filed on the demolition of the high court and the final verdict was delivered today. The court also accorded permission for the construction of the new secretariat building. It said that the decision of the cabinet can not be termed as a fault. The government's counsel told the court that the old secretariat building has no proper facilities and infrastructure and most the buildings in the campus are in dilapidation state.

Soon after the government announced its decision on demolition of the secretariat, petitions criticising the government order were filed that said it as a waste of public money. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has proposed the construction of new secretariat for the state at a cost of Rs 1,200 crores.

The secretariat has been spread over 25.5 acres and has 10 blocks. After the state bifurcation, the building was divided into 58:42 blocks for AP and Telangana. After the government proposal, all the departments have been moved out and reinstalled in various places in the city. While 70 per cent of the departments accommodated in BRK Bhavan, the remaining were shifted to Tarnaka and other places in Hyderabad.