Telangana: Secretariat in Secunderabad will boost cityscape

Hyderabad: Some residents of Secunderabad staged another protest at the Parade Ground on Thursday, saying they would see to it that no Secretariat was built in Secunderabad.

The protest comes a day after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that the Secretariat would come up at the Bison Polo Ground and not at Parade Ground as initially stated in the Chief Minister’s Office press release.

These residents argued that the administrative building would add to the load on water, sewerage and traffic; besides the free zone would be cordoned during VIP movements, affecting normal life.

However, there were those who disagreed. Urban planner Meenal Sharma said “The Bison Polo Ground is out of access and is redundant. It is an open land which can be turned into a an attractive administrative block which will have additional green cover.”

She pointed out that the Metro Rail runs close to the Bison Polo Ground, which will make travel to the administrative headquarters easy. It would boost commercial establishments and the land prices nearby would increase.

“Secunderabad will get a new face. More people will get work, roads and sanitation will be maintained,” Ms Sharma said.

The Army has only permitted civilians at the Parade Ground and about 1,000 people walk there in the mornings. Entry into the Bison Polo Ground is restricted. Neither of these was meant for civilian use.

Architect Shankar Narayan said high-rise buildings would not be permitted around the Begumpet airport and there is uncertainty over the approval by the Airport Authority of India.

“Secunderabad roads cannot take the volume of traffic. Each time the Chief Minister’s convoy passes, it will choke traffic,” he said. 

It was stated that group of citizens had conducted an online poll in which about 90 per cent of the 2,600 people who responded had opposed building the Secretariat in Secunderabad.