Hyderabad: Telangana Congress leaders took to the streets on Thursday, protesting the proposed demolition of Secretariat buildings. Led by TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, scores of Congress activists tried to lay siege on Secretariat building. They were arrested by the police and later released.
“The TRS government tried to mislead the court to justify its insane decision of demolishing the Secretariat. As many as 16 CMs and their Cabinet colleagues functioned from the same Secretariat buildings and completed their tenures. They include AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who enjoys Z-Plus security. It was not possible for security agencies to allow a VIP to function from an office which is unsafe,” Mr Reddy said.
He said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was behaving like a ‘Vastu maniac’ and wants to demolish even good buildings to please his sentiments.
“Congress will continue the agitation till KCR drops the plan. Instead of wasting public money on new Secretariat, the government should clear dues of crop loan waiver, fee reimbursement, Arogyasri and other welfare schemes,” Mr Reddy said.
The TPCC chief asserted that most Secretariat blocks were constructed in the recent past and were fit for office accommodation. “Shockingly, the advocate-general resorted to falsehood before the High Court that present Secretariat does not meet fire safety norms,” he said.
Party senior leaders Mohd. Ali Shabbir, D.K. Aruna, G. Chinna Reddy, Rammohan Reddy, Sampath Kumar, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and Vamshi Chand Reddy, and others, participated.
Police sealed all entry points to the Secretariat and put up barricades at the main entrance. The protesters then staged a sit-in protest for over an hour and raised slogans against the government.
