Congress Against Building New Secretariat

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday wrote an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao asking him to drop plans to demolish the current Telangana Secretariat for a new one.

"Shifting the Secretariat is an unwise and irrational decision. The decision to demolish the present Secretariat and construct a new complex at a cost of hundreds of crores of rupees is not a judicious decision, and is an addendum on the taxpayers' money," the TPCC chief wrote in his letter to the Chief Minister.

In the letter, Reddy pointed out that the H-Block (South & North blocks) was constructed as recently as 2008 and was in good condition. The D-Block was constructed in 2003, A-Block in 1998, J-Block in '90, L-Block in '81, C & B blocks in '78 and K-Block in '75. The only old and unusable block in the Secretariat was the G-Block, he said.

The TPCC chief said that it was unfortunate that the Chief Minister had appealed to his personal beliefs of "Vaasthu Shastra" as the reason for demolishing a fully functional Secretariat with the buildings still having several decades of life left, and planning plush buildings at a cost of Rs. 350 crores.

"In this age and time, spending hundreds of crores of rupees of precious public money for 'Vaastu' cannot be justified, and is silly beyond measure," he said.

He also said that it was astonishing that the Advocate General told the High Court that the reason for taking the step was because the current Secretariat did not meet fire safety regulations.

"Is it possible that you as the Chief Minister and your minister colleagues were operating in the present Secretariat without fire safety regulations being met? Is it also possible that the CM of AP, Chandrababu Naidu, who has Z-Category security was operating from the present complex till a couple of weeks back from buildings without fire safety? Former CMs Kiran Kumar Reddy, K Rosaiah, Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy, Chandrababu Naidu, N T Rama Rao and all their minister colleagues were operating from buildings without 'fire safety regulations'", Reddy asked.

He claimed that the State government's stance in the High Court raised several questions among the people of Telangana.

The Congress leader said that with the shifting of AP Secretariat to Vijayawada and vacation of the buildings from the Secretariat complex, there was more than enough space now to accommodate all departments, including those that weren't already a part of the complex. Thereby, all departments and sections of the government could be brought into one complex without even spending a single rupee.

"It is depressingly ironic that the government does not release overdue amounts of money towards farmers' loan waiver schemes or students' fee reimbursement scheme, but indulges in unproductive spending. As the first Chief Minister of Telangana, we expect that you will conduct all matters like an efficient Statesman. The voice of the Opposition parties, members of civil society, NGOs and the general public must be heard by you, and the move for a new secretariat building dropped forthwith," the TPCC chief demanded.