Hyderabad: Even as the stage was set for the inauguration of the world’s largest lift irrigation project — Kaleshwaram — on Friday, the chief minister of India’s Telangana state, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has come up with another ambitious plan.
India’s youngest state will construct new buildings for the state secretariat and the Assembly in Hyderabad, officials say.
As the Central government refused to allot the Bison Polo Ground in Secunderabad for the project, the state government has decided to build the new secretariat building in place of the old secretariat complex opposite Hussain Sagar lake.
The new state Assembly building will come at Errum Manzil in the heart of the city where the state irrigation department’s headquarters was located.
The earlier bid by the state government to use the Bison Polo Ground was opposed by activists and environmentalists, who said it was one of the few open spaces in the city.
After the state cabinet meeting Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told journalists a decision was taken to lay the foundation stone for the new buildings on June 27.
A subcommittee headed by the roads and buildings minister was formed to look into whether the old secretariat blocks should be demolished to make way for the new building or it should be built on a vacant land. The secretariat was spread over an area of 10 hectares.
But unlike the past when the secretariat was spread across several blocks of buildings on one campus, the new secretariat will have a single huge building with a beautiful architectural design — a mix of the old and the modern with a central dome towering over the area.
The state government has hired the services of Mumbai’s famous designer Hafeez Contractors to prepare the design of the building.
The new secretariat building will cost around Rs4 billion (Dh260 million) and will have a built-up space of 45,000 to 55,000 square metres.
The new Assembly building, which would come up on an area of seven hectares, will be modelled on the old Assembly building.
The exquisite white structure of the old Assembly building was developed in a unique Hyderabad style with a mix of local and Islamic architectural style featuring minarets.
Built during the era of the sixth Nizam Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, to serve as a town hall, the building still stands tall.
The CM said the old building would be preserved as a heritage monument.
Its design and façade will be replicated in the new building, he added.
