Hyderabad: Turning a new leaf in its history, India’s youngest state Telangana on Sunday opened a new building of its Secretariat, the nerve centre of state’s administration equipped with state-of-the-art features and built with a unique design.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao inaugurated the complex by occupying a chair in his chambers on the sixth floor and signing a few files. A group of priests performed the rituals with chanting of Vedic hymns.
Ministers, leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and senior officials presented bouquets to congratulate him on the occasion. Many ministers and other public representatives bowed down to touch the feet of Chief Minister KCR.
Ministers, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, secretaries and other top officials occupied their chairs in their respective chambers simultaneously.
A brainchild of Chief Minister KCR, the Secretariat complex has come up near the banks of Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city at the same piece of land where old buildings of Telangana Secretariat and earlier undivided Andhra Pradesh stood.
The new secretariat of Telangana has been named after Dr B RAmbedkar, the architect of the constitution, with the intention that people’s representatives and the entire government machinery should work to realise the ideals of the Architect of the Indian Constitution, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Sunday.
Rao inaugurated the new Secretariat complex, which stands 265 feet tall and is spread over an area of 10,51,676 square feet in a sprawling of 28 acres of land here, one of the largest in the country.
He said he considered it the opportunity of a lifetime to have inaugurated this “magnificent secretariat complex”.
“It is with Ambedkar’s message and in Gandhi’s way that the journey of Telangana continues,” he said.
The chief minister said that the earlier Planning Commission (since replaced by NITI Aayog) had kept nine districts of Telangana under the backward districts category but now there was no village as progressive as those of Telangana.
He thanked officials and stakeholders for striving hard for the development of the state.
A ‘Sudarsana Yagam’ was performed from 6 am and Rao occupied his chambers in the sixth floor after the rituals concluded at around 1.30 PM.
The ministers of the state government also occupied their respective chambers.
Considering the inadequacies of the former Secretariat complex built during undivided Andhra Pradesh, a government-appointed expert committee favoured the construction of a new building.
The chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Secretariat on June 27, 2019 but the works started only in January 2021, delayed by the covid-19 pandemic, court cases and other issues.
The domes of the new Secretariat have been built in the styles of the Neelakanteswara Swamy temple of the Kakatiya period in Nizamabad, designs of the palaces of the royals of Wanaparthy ‘Samsthanam’ in Telangana and the pattern of the Hanuman temple in Sarangpur, Gujarat, according to the release.
The national emblem atop the huge domes has taken the building to its planned height of 265 feet.
The construction was done “flawlessly” with the instructions of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department, IGBC (Indian Green Building Council), Telangana State Technological Services and the State police department, the release added.
The integrated complex housing the offices of the chief minister, ministers, chief secretary and all other secretaries and heads of departments, reflects the pride of Telangana and would stand as a role model for other states, says the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.
The rituals associated with the inauguration of the building began Sunday morning. Sudarshana Yagam was performed by Vedic pandits. Minister for Roads and Buildings Vemula Prashant Reddy and his wife performed Dwaralaxmi puja.
After the Sudershana Yagam, Chandi homam and vastu homam were performed.
Chief minister KCR arrived at the Secretariat at around 1:15 p.m. After getting down from the car at the main gate and accompanied by a few ministers and top officials, he walked towards the special tent to perform puja before driving into the complex.
At the entrance, KCR took a salute from a police contingent before unveiling a plaque and cutting the ribbon to formally inaugurate the building.
Features of the Secretariat
The structure has been built in the Indo-Saracenic style that blends the Indo-Islamic architectural features generally with domes. The multiple domes and arches of the building perfectly fit in this style representing the syncretic and liberal Deccani style, expressing Telangana’s quintessence.
Designed by the Chennai-based Architects Ponni Concessao and Oscar Concessao, the complex has been built by Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Limited with all the Indian Green Building Council norms, meeting the stipulations of fire safety, disaster management and other mandatory regulations.
The construction work started in January 2021 amid Covid-19 and court cases, but was completed in a record time of 26 months. According to officials, usually it takes five years to complete the works of such a huge construction.
The building, a fusion of different cultures, has been built with a height of 265 feet on an area of 10,51,676 square feet in a sprawling 28 acres. It has 34 domes, including two huge domes, which add attraction to the complex.
The six-storey Secretariat, with 635 rooms, 30 conference halls and 24 lifts, has been built to accommodate 2,000 employees.
There are two floors with 4,500 square feet each under the dome on the sixth floor. These will be used for the President, Prime Minister and foreign guests who are on a state visit. Royal dining halls have been built in the Persian model.
According to officials, 3,500 cubic meters of Dholpur red stone, which was used for the Parliament building, was also utilised for the new Secretariat. For this, a whole mine was used in Dholpur, Rajasthan. From there, the stone was transported to Hyderabad in 1,000 trucks. Red stone is used for the entire basement, while light brown stone is used from the main dome to the portico.
The government has also built Hindu, Muslim and Christian prayer halls in the Secretariat. They have been made more spacious and beautiful than before. The government has provided flexibility to get the construction done according to the wishes of the respective religious leaders.
