Insisting on working from the Fort St. George building rather than the new Assembly-Secretariat complex built by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said the DMK initiative was an “incomplete structure” and lacked sufficient space.
Making an intervention while DMK’s senior leader and former Minister Duraimurugan was speaking during the debate on the budget in the State Assembly, she said officials of most departments had to run between the two buildings as not all departments were accommodated in the new complex.
“It is not proper to say that it is not being used by us since it is a DMK project. Even during the DMK regime, only six of the 36 departments functioned from the new premises while the rest were located here (at Fort St. George). It is an incomplete structure, so much like any other DMK initiative,” she said.
The Chief Minister said while some DMK Ministers functioned from the new Secretariat complex, their secretaries and other officers were posted at the old Fort St. George building which also housed the necessary files.
“Officials had to run between the two buildings and there was a lot of delay and confusion,” said Ms. Jayalalithaa, whose government’s proposal to convert the complex into a multi-super speciality hospital has been stayed by the High Court.
