Comments
The Telangana Government’s decision to go in for a new premises for the Secretariat and Assembly has attracted sharp criticism from the Opposition in the Assembly on Wednesday even as the Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhara Rao, said that he would go ahead with the plan.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders K Laxman and Kishan Reddy have argued that there was no need for wasting so much money on new buildings.
“The government should instead have gone for a revamp of the existing Secretariat. Building a new Secretariat shouldn’t be the priority of the government, while scores of welfare hostels lack own buildings,” Kishan Reddy said.
The Chief Minister has been pushing for a new building complex for the new Secretariat, Assembly and Heads of Department offices. After stiff opposition to his plan to locate the complex at the Chest Hospital, he opted for the Bison Polo Ground, owned by the Defence Ministry.
Cost of construction
Rao has pegged the cost of construction at Rs 500 crore for the creation of six lakh sq ft of space for the Secretariat and other structures. He has asked the Union Government to give 150 acres for the new buildings and widening of the Rajiv Highway that connects the Northern part of Telangana with the State capital.
Laxman contended that the government should not take away a play ground to construct the buildings, devouring lung spaces. He said it was against the Supreme Court order that was against taking away playgrounds for the construction of buildings.
The Chief Minister argued that the existing Secretariat lacked parking and fire safety. “All the buildings there were constructed were without taking required permissions. We deserve to have a bigger, spacious building complex to house the Secretariat, the Assembly and a common space for all the Heads of Department offices,” he said.
“We are also planning to construct a big cultural centre, Kala Bharati, to facilitate hosting huge events,” he said.
Scattered infrastructure
“At present, the HoD offices are scattered across the twin cities. We need to have an integrated building complex that can help save time while holding high-level meetings,” he said.
The Chief Minister asserted that the government had the mandate to go ahead with the plan. “We are awaiting the Union Government nod. The moment we get it, we will go ahead with the construction work,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.