After saying that TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was keen on demolishing the Secretariat building as he believed in superstitions and is worried that his son K.T. Rama Rao would not be the next CM of the state as was the case with the earlier 16 CMs who ruled the state from the same Secretariat complex, Congress working president and MP Revanth Reddy found a new reason why KCR was insisting on demolition of the Secretariat even if it meant wastage of public money during the ongoing Corona crisis.
Reddy said that the archaeology department suspected the presence of hidden treasure beneath the G-Block in the Secretariat and underground tunnels running through the Home Science College, Vidyaranya School and the Mint Compound, all very near to the Secretariat building. The Congress leader indirectly hinted that demolition of the Secretariat was taken up to unearth the treasure.
He reminded that in 2016, the archaeology department wrote a letter to the GHMC commissioner to clear the mud, slush and water from the underground tunnels so that it could see if there was any hidden treasure beneath the whole area.
Soon, in the next year, KCR started disliking the G-Block in the Secretariat, Reddy said and added that it was with a long term plan that he began the campaign against the G-Block. He alleged that KCR has a hidden agenda behind the demolition of the Secretariat barricading 3-km area around the place.
Even the heads of various wings working from the Boorgula Ramakrishna Bhavan nearby the Secretariat were given a holiday on the day the demolition was taken up, he pointed out and wondered what was the reason to bring down the structure secretly even after the courts gave nod for it. He also said that two constables who took videos of the demolition were chased and surrendered to the department.
According to history, the G-Block is the place where the VIth Nizam ruler built his palace and wanted to rule his kingdom from the place. However, on the inauguration day, he found a garden lizard (thonda) at the place and considering it a bad omen, did not occupy the palace along with his family. He used it as the financial department office, Revanth Reddy said, adding that the Mint Compound was the place where gold and silver coins used to be printed during the Nizam era. This means both the Secretariat Complex and the Mint Compound have historic significance, Reddy said.
The Congress MP also faulted the CM for not constituting the Heritage committee, including the main opposition leader as a member of it, to decide on the heritage structures in the state and also not calling for an all-party meeting before passing the Heritage Act, as promised by KCR in the Assembly in April, 2017. Reddy even showed the video clipping of KCR’s speech in the Assembly regarding the same.
In the same clipping, KCR termed the G-Block in the Secretariat as a ‘samadhi’ and a structure that should be disposed off at the earliest. KCR said that the committee will take a decision on what structures should be preserved as heritage buildings and what should be discarded. “The Heritage Bill was passed in the Assembly without fulfilling all the promises he made,” Reddy said and wondered what could be the hidden agenda behind the hurry.
Further, Revanth Reddy also reminded that during the construction of the new compound wall around the Secretariat some ancient coins were unearthed.
The Congress MP also pointed out to the transfer of one IAS officer, Raghunandan Rao, a loyalist of KCR to the archaeology wing months before the demolition of Secretariat was planned.
Revanth Reddy sought an explanation from KCR for going underground when the demolition works begin and surfacing only after demolition works stop.
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