Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will inaugurate the Secretariat on Sunday, April 30. The new integrated administrative building will become fully operational the same day. Although the building's inauguration was initially set for February 17, on the CM's birthday, that event had to be postponed after a large fire burned down some of the structure's floors in the late hours of February 3.
According to the official press release, CM KCR will inaugurate the Secretariat building named after Dr BR Ambedkar at 6.08 am on Sunday with a Sudarshan Yagam followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony. Immediately after that, the CM will assume his chamber on the 6th floor while the ministers of various departments will take up their respective chambers between 1:58 pm and 2:04 pm, and a gathering will be addressed at 2:15 pm at the new Secretariat premises.
When CM KCR took office as the first chief minister of Telangana in 2014, he said that the structure was difficult to access and citing discrepancies in Vastu, he claimed that the building brought bad luck for his predecessors. The CM decided to construct a new integrated building and demolish the old building in July 2020. During the demolition, a temple and mosque inside the premises were destroyed which triggered a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) pointing fingers. However, CM KCR stated that he regretted the incident and promised to erect a temple and a mosque in the new Secretariat building.
The new Secretariat’s layout has been designed in such a way that all the ministers' offices, the departments under each minister, and the offices of their respective secretaries and HoDs (Heads of Department) are all located on the same floor or in the same building.
The new Secretariat, which was designed by Chennai-based architects Ponni Concessao and Oscar Concessao, has a distinctive design and appears to be in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style, which combines Indo-Islamic architectural elements typically with domes. The building's numerous domes and arches blend in with this design, which represents the syncretic and liberal Deccani style. It has been constructed with all modern amenities, including conference halls, visitors’ lounges, and dining halls.
Nearly, 3 lakh sq feet granite and one lakh sq feet marble were used in the construction of the building. A total of 12,000 people were employed in three shifts to complete the construction.
Some features of the new administrative building include total built-up area in the main complex of 8,58,530 sq feet, lower ground + ground + six floors (each 14 feet height) and building height of 265 feet.
The building cost was over Rs 600 crore. There are ancillary units for visitors, police personnel, fire department, crèche, and a utility building. The Secretariat building houses a temple, mosque and church.
Landscaping is spread across 7.72 acres while the central courtyard lawn is about 2.2 acres. There is parking space for VVIP, staff and others with a capacity for 560 cars and 700 two-wheelers.
