Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seems to have his own priorities in running the government.
At a time when every state in the entire nation is busy fighting the Coronavirus pandemic with whatever little resources it has, the Telangana chief minister is keen on demolishing the state secretariat complex and construct a new one in its place.
For the last two consecutive days, KCR has been seriously engaged in the review of the construction of the new secretariat complex, finalising the designs for the same and approving the construction plan.
He made some more changes in the design for the proposed integrated Secretariat complex to make it a fully functional.
He suggested that Secretariat should have all the facilities for Ministers, Chief Secretary, Secretaries and Advisers within each department, besides a dining hall, a conference hall and a waiting lounge separately for each of the six-storeyed mega structure.
Surprisingly, the chief minister has hardly been paying attention to the Covid-19 situation.
Except one meeting with officials to find fault with the high court for pulling up the government for its inept handling of Covid-19 pandemic, there have hardly been any measures with regard to tackling the situation.
Already, the state is facing a severe shortage of revenues due to the impact of lockdown and the government is forced to spend huge amounts on testing and treating Covid-19 patients. Yet, the government chose to spent nearly Rs 20 crore on demolition works alone.
It is not clear from where the government would mobilise Rs 500 crore for the construction of new integrated secretariat complex without any budgetary allocations. Naturally, KCR’s priorities have been evoking sharp protests from all sections of people.
One can understand if the government is spending money on construction of projects or laying of roads or other infrastructure needs. But spending money on buildings that is not an emergency need is something unpalatable to the people.
“Is it necessary to have a new secretariat now, when the people are dying of Covid-19? Can’t the government wait for a few months till the things are back to normal? Does the government come to a halt if the office buildings are not completed?” a senior journalist asked.