Now, UP Chief Minister’s Secretariat gets a saffron touch

Workers paint Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s secretariate with saffron colour in Lucknow. (Express photo: Vishal Srivastav)

AFTER BUSES, school bags and government booklets, the chief minister’s secretariat — known as the Annexe and Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan in government records — is also getting a saffron touch. At present, work is on to paint the boundary wall and top of the secretariat building saffron. It was till now off white in colour.

According to officials, the state estate department had finalised the saffron colour after discussion with the “higher-ups”. “Options of various colours were discussed but kesariya (saffron) was chosen finally. But only a strip on top of the building and the boundary wall will be painted with kesariya colour. The rest of the building will be painted off white,” state Estate Department Officer Yogesh Kumar Shukla said.

He added that there was no compulsion of using any particular colour. This should not be taken with a negative approach, he claimed.

(Express photo: Vishal Srivastav)

The five-storey building has the offices of the chief minister, his principal secretary, secretaries, special secretaries and other employees. While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sits at this office daily, former CM Akhilesh Yadav used to visit the office for Cabinet meetings only. Office of the chief secretary, home, industry and civil aviation departments as well as the media centre are also located in the same building.