KCR government to raze all structures in Secretariat

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has finally decided to raze all the existing buildings on the premises of the Secretariat complex except for the historical temple and mosque on the premises.

Official sources said a decision to this effect was taken after a series of meetings the R&B officials held with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar during the past few days.

On bulldozing the temple, which has been one of the famous holy places in the Secretariat surroundings and the masjid constructed during the Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy's regime will be taken based on the designs being prepared by the relevant private agencies, they said.

The cost of construction of the new Secretariat is estimated to be around Rs 400 crore. It has also been decided to invite global tenders and award the works to a private agency as per the guidelines stipulated by the government.

Top officials of the Roads and Buildings department said that all the ten blocks in the Secretariat including J,K,L and H, which have been handed over to Telangana by the AP government, will be demolished first.

The 'L block' was renovated at a cost of Rs 40 crore in 2015 by the then AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. The block was equipped with high-end logistical support, including video conference facility and the computerised office network and security equipment to meet the requirements of Z plus category.

After holding a series of meetings with the Chief Minister, the R and B department has decided to raze all these structures before taking up the construction of the new Secretariat.

The Cabinet Sub Committee on the construction of new Secretariat and Assembly buildings headed by State R and B minister V Prashant Reddy and the members Excise minister V Srinivas Goud and Welfare minister K Eshwar will take stock of the preparations for the demolition of all structures after Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao laid foundation stone on June 27 .

The officials said that required space was already available to shift all offices including the Ministers chambers, Chief Secretary SK Joshi and other Secretaries offices to other places in the city.

State GAD ( Political ) Secretary Adhar Sinha is finalising the office space outside the secretariat for every department to run administration smoothly till the completion of the new building.

The total available office space in all government buildings in the city is 48 lakh square feet.

Some portion of space was already in use and occupied by the HOD (head of the Departments) and the left over space will be utilised to set up ministers' chambers and also the Secretary and other secretariat staff.

CMO and Chief Secretary Offices are likely to be shifted to BRK Bhavan abutting the secretariat building.

The proposal to take back the lands given to run the Mint compound and city offices of state Energy department is also under consideration , officials said the lands will also be used for the construction of the secretariat.