Secretariat rebuilding: Telangana ministers, govt advisers to work from home

Hyderabad: It will be ‘work from home’ for ministers, government advisers and a few top-level officials of Telangana from August with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao keen on rebuilding a new Secretariat by demolishing the existing buildings. Officials are hunting for alternative buildings in the city to accommodate Secretariat staff during the construction period.

However, the limited buildings that were identified can cater to the needs of Secretariat officials and staff. The chief secretary-headed committee appointed by the government has proposed that government advisers, ministers and CMO officials should be allowed to work from home till the new Secretariat is constructed.

Mr Rao too will work from his new home-cum-camp office being built on nine acres in Begumpet at a cost of Rs 40 crore. It is adjacent to the existing CM's camp office and will be ready by Dasara.

Though CM has asked officials to complete new Secretariat construction within a year from the date of laying foundation sometime between August and September, officials say it would take at least two years.

Noted architect Hafeez Contractor had recently submitted designs for a U-shaped new Secretariat to the CM recently, which are based on the North Block and South Block of Delhi. They will be connected by the CM's block in between. The estimated cost has been pegged at Rs 200 crore.

Official sources said, the C-Block housing CMO and D-Block housing ministers and secretaries will be demolished in the first phase. Later A and B Blocks will be demolished. The government will not touch the blocks allotted to AP Secretariat till they shift to Amaravati completely and surrender the buildings to TS.

The shifting of Secretariat offices would begin by this month-end. The CM is expected to lay the foundation for the new Secretariat in August after the end of the ongoing ‘inauspicious” Aashada Masam.