Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) Sunday inaugurated the state’s new Secretariat in Hyderabad – a towering “Vaastu-compliant” building that was the CM’s pet project.
Situated in the heart of Hyderabad near Hussain Sagar Lake, the new Secretariat has bullet-proof windows in KCR’s office, a royal dining room and an elite sky lounge with glass walls that offer an aerial view of the city, including the iconic Nizam-era water body.
Styled with Indo-Saracenic or Neo-Mughal architecture features, the Secretariat has been named after BR Ambedkar whose 125-feet bronze statue stands near the new building, and which KCR had inaugurated on the latter’s 132nd birth anniversary earlier this month.
Known to be particular about following “auspicious timings”, the CM chose the period between 1.20 pm and 1.40 pm Sunday to enter his chamber in the Secretariat, which was inaugurated amid rituals and yagnas with priests chanting mantras.
The priests chanted mantras as the chief minister sat in his chair at the office. And one of the first files that he signed in the new Secretariat was the implementation of his scheme Dalit Bandhu for 2023-2024, which would give Rs 10 lakh assistance to eligible Dalit families.
“Dr BR Ambedkar’s message for the development of all sections is a big inspiration to the state government. We fought peacefully by following the Gandhian ideology and achieved a separate Telangana state. The architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s vision of enshrining Article 3 in the Constitution helped the creation of Telangana,” the chief minister said after the inauguration.
The Dr B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat comprises eight floors (lower ground, ground floor plus six) with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) at the top and the sky lounge above it.
“The sprawling structure has 24 elevators and 635 rooms, and 30 conference halls. Spread over 2.25 acres, the building has the capacity to accommodate 564 car parking. The total area where the centre has the building is 27.9 acres,” a statement from the CMO read Saturday. It added that the building’s design was inspired by Kakatiya architecture and temples in Telangana and Gujarat.
An official from the state engineering department told ThePrint that the “project cost about Rs 1,000 crore”, though the CMO stated that “Rs 550 crore had been spent on the building so far” and “the cost had risen 30 per cent” than what was first estimated.
Talking about the building, the official added: “The sky lounge was designed to host the chief minister’s guests (mostly government officials and foreign delegates) and give them an aerial view of the city. The CMO on the sixth floor has bullet-proof windows and also the cabinet room where the CM will hold meetings with ministers.”
Another key attraction in the new building is the dining room which can seat 22. It comprises white and golden interiors, a glittering tiled floor, chandeliers and a large wooden dining table in the middle with KCR’s photograph hanging on one wall.
Telangana’s new Secretariat has come up in place of the old Secretariat, a Nizam-era building that was torn down in July 2020.
“The new building is not just about the lavish facilities,” chief engineer Ganpathi Reddy from the state’s roads and buildings department told ThePrint. “The earlier building was not fire safety compliant, and plumbing lines and electrical installations had become old. Moreover, if a minister’s office was in a certain block, his staff office would be in another block. There was a lot of walking involved and confidential material was also taken the same way. All this was a hassle.”
The main gate of the new secretariat is referred to as the ‘Bahubali Mahadwara,’ which is 24 feet high and made of teakwood. All the doors in the complex are made of teakwood, an official from the CMO said.
A total of 34 domes are in the building, with two huge main ones. On the two main domes, the national emblem has been installed.
Meanwhile, taking objection to the structure of the secretariat, BJP state chief and MP Bandi Sanjay told the media Sunday that “it appears the Secretariat was built to please AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and a certain section of people”. He also pointed out how the masjid inside the Secretariat was built on a larger area, in comparison to the temple.
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‘CM finalised every detail’
Renowned Chennai-based architects Oscar and Ponni have designed the new Secretariat.
In a written reply to ThePrint over mail the company said that there were “several discussions” with the CM before finalising every component of the building, and these talks included the “principles of vaastu”.
“The concept of the new building is based on vaastu. Architects Ponni and Oscar had several days of discussions, one-to-one interactions and a design workshop with the CM at his office. He discussed in detail the master planning, vaastu principles, site-grading, and floor-by-floor zoning of the different components of the Secretariat,” according to the communication from the team.
“We had to plan and design several spatial components and the facades of the Secretariat and we had to discuss with the updated drawings and several options on a daily basis (with the CM) for almost two weeks,” the communication stated, adding that KCR spent several hours with the team finalising intricate points of architecture and interior designing.
According to the design team, “the distribution of entrances, cores, service cores and toilets is all according to Vaastu Shastra”.
They also said that “one of the requirements that KCR gave to the design team was that the new Secretariat must last at least 150 years”.
The outer landscape has been designed with native trees of Telangana and fountains. White colour has been used for the Secretariat as it depicts purity, new beginnings and integrity, Oscar and Ponni’s team further said.
The KCR government is touting the 265-foot Secretariat as the tallest building in the city, taller than the iconic Charminar and even Delhi’s Qutub Minar.
Telangana’s roads and buildings minister Vemula Prashant Reddy had recently said the Secretariat was “bigger than the Central Vista Parliament building (in New Delhi) which occupies only 7 lakh square feet while Telangana Secretariat has 10.50 lakh square feet space”.
Why a new Secretariat
The idea of a new Secretariat was first proposed by the KCR government in 2017 and drew much backlash from opposition parties as well as citizens in the state. Pleas against the demolition of the old building were filed in the Telangana High Court.
The new building was initially estimated to cost Rs 400 crore – a figure which shot up to Rs 617 crore by 2020. The amount was officially sanctioned that year and in July, Telangana’s old Secretariat was demolished after the court gave the go-ahead.
Amid the demolition, Congress leader Revanth Reddy filed a plea in the National Green Tribunal alleging that the demolition would pollute Hussain Sagar Lake. But the tribunal too gave the green signal for the demolition.
“Some ‘Political Lilliputs’ (enemies) created hurdles to the construction of the new secretariat by demolishing the old building at the same place. The government did not take serious note and moved forward and built the state secretariat, which is one of a few wonderful government structures in the country,” KCR said on Sunday.
Explaining why the chief minister had decided to go for a new Secretariat, the Telangana CMO stated Saturday that it was because of “frequent roof top collapses, power short circuit problems, lack of space for a good canteen with all facilities, shortage of parking facilities, administrative problems and lack of coordination between departments” in the old building.
Ganpathi Reddy told ThePrint that more than 4,000 people worked for over two years to build the new palace-like structure, which can accommodate over 2,000 people — ministers, secretaries, department officials etc.
The new complex, like the old one, accommodates a temple, mosque and church. There is also a fire station, creche and dispensary in the auxiliary buildings, he said.
“The CM wanted the staff to have a better workspace. Now, each minister and his staff have been placed on the same floor. We have adequate parking and space for vehicular movement, as well as a police security block accommodating 300 personnel,” Reddy added.
While the new Secretariat is Hyderabad’s newest attraction, some miss the old building which had a “simplicity and sincerity”.
“The old Secretariat just remains a memory now. The CMO, especially in the 1970s, was so simple. The entire atmosphere depicted sincerity. All that has changed now, and it is a lavish new structure,” a retired Secretariat employee, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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