The State government is contemplating to request Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar to handover the buildings in the secretariat complex alloted to AP as part of Bifurcation.
The government is seeking the possession of the buildings as a majority of them are not in use by the AP government since it has shifted to the new capital Amaravati.
According to official sources, the Telangana government is facing acute space shortage for operating its offices as major chunk of the built up area went to AP during the Bifurcation in 42:58 ratio.
The State secretariat is spread over 25.5 acres and has built up area of 9.16 lakh sq.ft. Of this, Andhra Pradesh was allotted 15.21 acres land with a built up area of 5.31 lakh sq.ft while Telangana had to be content with 3.85 lakh sq.ft built up area spread over 10.29 acres. Of the 10 blocks in the secretariat complex, four were allotted to Telangana and five to AP while a decision on the G-block was kept pending as matter pertaining to its declaration as heritage structure is pending adjudication.
No maintenance
The offices of Telangana government are functioning from the A block with built up area of 46,500 sq.ft, B block (36,750 sq.ft), C block (55,800 sq.ft) and D block (2.46 lakh sq.ft area). AP government on its part was given the H south block (59,870 sq.ft), H north block (79,828 sq.ft), J block (1.46 lakh sq.ft) K block (55,427 sq.ft) and L block (1.89 lakh sq.ft). A majority of the buildings allocated to AP were, however, not in use after the relocation of the secretariat to the new capital. “There is no maintenance of these buildings and there is no clarity on the pending power and water dues,” an official remarked.
The Bifurcation, according to official sources, was made in such a manner that several offices of Telangana government had to be relocated to buildings outside the secretariat complex for want of space.
This was evident from the fact that the Telangana government did not get adequate parking space as the area earmarked for helipad and open area adjacent to it went to AP while the branches of two banks, dispensary, central record room and other facilities were also on the AP side of the complex.
“Employees had to be sent to MCR HRD institute for training purposes as there is no conference hall that can house a few hundreds of employees at a time,” an official said.
Scattered offices
This was in turn hampering the work of the employees as also resulting in financial implications to the TS government in the form of their transport and other facilities.
The government is contemplating to address a letter to the AP government in this regard in the light of the positive response given by the neighbouring State in handing over the Legislative Council premises to Telangana.
The Council premises was officially handed over to the State on March 9 after discussion between the legislature secretaries of the two States and the government is hopeful of a similar response from AP to its request.
