Congress Wants Sports Complex At Bison Polo Grounds

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 a new Secretariat.

Lashing out at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for planning to construct a palatial Secretariat complex on the 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 vaasthu and to compete with the neighboring Andhra Pradesh would not be tolerated by the people, he warned.

The Congress leader further pointed out that the Begumpet airport close to the Bison Polo grounds was being used by dignitaries and other VIPs to land, and also organized annual air shows, and hence was a no-fly zone. Hence the construction of any high-rise building in its vicinity was prohibited. When this was the case how could the CM think of constructing a Chicago-type federal structure there, he asked.

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

The Congress leader said that the state exchequer had already incurred heavy and wasteful expenditure for the construction of Pragati Bhavan in Begumpet, and ever since the CM had not been attending the Secretariat. As a matter of fact, review meetings and cabinet meetings were being conducted in Pragati Bhavan. When that was the case, why go in for a new Secretariat now, he asked.

Rao said that KCR's plans to construct a new Secretariat at Bison Polo grounds would be opposed tooth and nail by the people of the state, especially the citizens of Hyderabad. In this regard he would campaign in the entire city from tomorrow going door to door to elicit the opinion of the people. Besides this he would also seek the opinion of the people on this issue through ballot boxes kept in all the wards, he added.