Hyderabad: The Telangana Government will finally start building a secretariat and Assembly worth crores.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, also known as KCR, will lay the foundation stone for the secretariat to be built at a cost of Rs 400 crore and the assembly to come up at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore at Erram Manzil on Thursday.
KCR is learnt to have set a nine-month deadline to build the new secretariat.
Owners of Erram Manzil have opposed the construction of the Assembly on the premises of the heritage structure.
Earlier, the chief minister had made a vain bid to build the secretariat in the Erragadda Chest Hospital area.
As the area wasn’t vastu-compliant, Rao gave the idea. Also, the area fell under the Begumpet Airport fly zone and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had objected to the construction of multi-storeyed buildings.
Later, he came up with another plan to execute his dream project at the Bison Polo ground, but he failed to bring the Union government on board as the land belonged to the defence ministry.
Finally, KCR decided to build the new secretariat on the existing premises on about 4.5 lakh sq ft area by razing down all 10 structures, including heritage G Block, which got its tag removed through a special Act.
"The foundation stone for the new secretariat will be laid next to the D Block in the morning by the Chief Minister. After that he will lay foundation stone for the Assembly complex," they said.
A strong believer in astrology and vastu, KCR will perform pujas as part of the foundation-laying ceremony for the upcoming structures. Preparations for the functions are said to have kept Chief Secretary SK Joshi busy.
The Telangana Cabinet has appointed a Group of Ministers headed by Road and Buildings Minister V Prashanth Reddy for the construction of new secretariat and Assembly
complexes.
The State Roads and Building department is tasked with executing the construction of the secretariat as well as Assembly buildings.
KCR is likely to finalise one of the two designs by Chennai-based Aaskar Ponni Architect and Mumbai-based Hafeez Contractor.
Once the designs are finalised some of the old buildings located in the existing secretariat will be demolished on the basis ofrequirement, officials said.
Earlier, Governor ESL Narasimhan issued orders followed by a nod from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy to hand over the structures to the Chandrasekhar-led Telangana Government.
The AP government was allotted four blocks in the secretariat complex here after bifurcation of the state in 2014, as Hyderabad was made common capital for both the states for a period not exceeding 10 years.
Officials have made alternative arrangements to run the departments of the secretariat from the nearby BRKR Bhavan.
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