Build sports complex, not Secretariat: VH

Secunderabad: Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao on Thursday demanded that a multi-purpose sports complex be established at the Bison Polo Grounds in Secunderabad instead of constructing a new Secretariat there.

Lashing out at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for planning to construct a palatial Secretariat complex on the Polo Grounds by splurging tax-payers’ money, Hanumantha Rao wondered why a new Secretariat was needed when a spacious one was already there. Wasting public funds for his whims and fancies in the name of Vasthu and to compete with the neighbouring AP State would not be tolerated by the people, he observed.

The Congress leader further reminded that the nearby Begumpet airport was being used by dignitaries and other VIPs besides organising annual air shows. Hence construction of any high-rise building in its vicinity, being a no-fly zone, was prohibited. When that was the case, how could the Chief Minister think of constructing a Chicago-type federal structure there, he questioned.

Hanumantha Rao further said the Chief Minister felicitating sports persons like PV Sindhu, Sania Mirza, Mithali Raj and others with cash incentives was not enough. If Chandrashekar Rao was interested in promoting sports and sports persons, then he should think of constructing a sports complex instead of a new Secretariat, he observed.

The Congress leader recalled that the State exchequer had already incurred heavy and wasteful expenditure for the construction of Pragathi Bhavan at Begumpet and ever since the Chief Minister had not been attending the Secretariat. As a matter of fact, review meetings and Cabinet meetings were being conducted in Pragathi Bhavan. When that was the case, why going now for a new Secretariat, he asked.