Hyderabad: During a high-level review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan with ministers and officials on Tuesday, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao directed them to make grand arrangements for the unveiling of 125-ft tall bronze statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on NTR Mrag on April 14 on the occasion of Ambedkar's birth anniversary, as well as the inauguration of the new Secretariat on April 30.
The CM has decided to invite Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar as the chief guest for the unveiling of the statue. The CM instructed the officials to deploy a helicopter to shower flower petals on the statue to pay floral tributes to Ambedkar in a grand manner.
No Chief Minister or leader of the regional parties were invited for the inauguration of the Secretariat. Earlier, the CM had planned to invite the CMs of Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, as well as Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, to the Secretariat inauguration on February 17, which was later postponed due to the MLC election code.
He asked officials to deploy a giant crane to unveil the statue and to decorate the statue with a giant garland. Further, Rao directed the officials to invite Buddhist monks for the event and conduct the ceremony as per their traditions.
Additionally, he instructed the officials and staff working in the Secretariat, HoDs of all departments, district collectors, ministers, MPs, MLAs, chairpersons of various corporations to attend the event without fail.
Party leaders were directed to mobilise 300 people from each Assembly constituency totalling 35,700 from all the 119 Assembly constituencies for the event. The public meeting will be addressed by Rao and Prakash Ambedkar.
Officials were directed to arrange 750 TSRTC buses to mobilise people for the event. Further, they were asked to arrange 40,000 chairs, one lakh sweet packets, 1.5 lakh buttermilk packets for the people attending the event.
The CM asked MLA Rasamayi Balakishan to organise cultural programmes hailing the contribution of Ambedkar. It was decided to felicitate 98-year sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, who designed the 125-ft tall Ambedkar statue.
With regard to the inauguration of the Secretariat on April 30, the Chief Minister and ministers will take part in the rituals on the morning of April 30 and the ‘muhurat’ will be announced later. After the inauguration, the CM will occupy his chambers on the sixth floor first followed by ministers, secretaries, CMO officials, and other officials.
About 2,500 elected representatives and officials are expected to participate in the event. There are four main gates to the new Secretariat. Of this, the north-west gate will be used only when needed.
The northeast gate will be used for the entry of the Secretariat officials and staff. Visitors will be allowed inside from 3pm to 5 pm. East gate will be used by CM, CS, DGP, ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, chairpersons of corporations and important guests. Electrical buggies will be kept available for the convenience of physically challenged and elderly visitors. Private vehicles will not be allowed inside the Secretariat. The CM asked the DGP to devise tight security measures for the Secretariat.
In the meeting, the CM also instructed Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to speed up guidelines for extending ₹3 lakh financial assistance to construct houses to poor owning plots under Gruha Laxmi scheme, to initiate measures for launching distribution of pattas for podu lands, sheep distribution scheme and Dalit Bandhu.
