Barely three days after giving a green signal for its demolition, Telangana High Court on Friday stayed the demolition of Telangana Secretariat building, undertaken by the state government, till Monday. The order was passed after a petition was filed against the building’s destruction, confirmed the petitioner’s counsel Advocate Chikkudu Prabhakar.
The demolition of the Secretariat building has been already facing vehement protest from the opposition parties, and a report claiming damage to an adjacent mosque and a temple during the demolition process did not help the state government’s cause.
In order to do damage control, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao issued a public apology for the damage sustained by the two places of worship and assured bigger and better reconstruction of them.
In an official statement, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) quoted K Chandrasekhar Rao saying, “Government has begun construction of a new Secretariat Building Complex by demolishing the old buildings.”
“I came to know that, during demolition, the adjacent temple and mosque were damaged. I felt sorry about it. It shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
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The Telangana CM then added, “We will construct a temple and mosque in Secretariat premises in a more spacious way even it means spending of crores of rupees. We will construct these at the government cost and hand them over the people concerned. This is my promise.”
Congress, BJP oppose demolition of old Secretariat building
Both Congress and BJP have been opposing the Telangana government’s decision to demolish the old Secretariat building in Hyderabad. Congress had moved a writ petition challenging the state cabinet’s decision while the BJP has questioned the need to demolish the structure at a time when there is a pandemic wreaking havoc in the state and the country.
After getting a nod from the High Court, Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) govt went ahead with its plan to demolish the structure on July 7. The traffic police cordoned off the secretariat from all sides to not allow anyone close to the demolition area.
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In all, the secretariat complex has 10 blocks, including a heritage structure built during the Nizam period called Peshi, spread over 25.5 acres. Everything will be demolished using modern technology, says the government.
It should be noted that during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the secretariat buildings were divided into a ratio of 58:42 for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, respectively, till 2024.
However, the Andhra government decided to move out and construct its own secretariat building in Amaravati, on the banks of river Krishna, giving a free hand to K Chandrasekhar Rao to demolish and rebuild the one located in Hyderabad.
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