With the Congress set to form the new government in Telangana on Thursday, December 7, officials have initiated the removal of restrictions at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad. The official residence and principal workplace of the Chief Minister, Pragathi Bhavan was surrounded by fencing and the entrance had iron barricades for the past decade, which are now being removed.
During his election campaigns, soon to be sworn-in Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had announced that people would be allowed to visit Pragathi Bhavan freely to express their concerns to the CM if the Congress party is voted to power. Revanth also declared that the Congress government would rename Pragathi Bhavan as Ambedkar Praja Bhavan and said that the doors of Praja Bhavan and the Secretariat would be open to the public.
According to reports, traffic police have facilitated the flow of traffic within the barricaded area while workers swiftly worked to dismantle the barriers with JCBs.
Praja Darbar was a programme implemented by previous Congress Chief Ministers to interact directly with citizens. However, after coming to power in 2014, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had installed barricades and imposed restrictions on the entry of the public into Pragathi Bhavan, drawing criticism from opposition parties.
Previous Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, and their family members vacated Pragathi Bhavan on Wednesday. KCR had moved to his farmhouse at Erravalli after the announcement of the Assembly poll results on December 3.