After a long time, Telangana Secretariat premises turned out to be a beehive of activity on Wednesday.
With the word out that the TRS government will be formally dissolving the Assembly on Thursday, officials and staff were seen busy with issuing important government orders for which announcements were already made and approvals given. The officials were seen clearing the pending files with people, employees, contractors pressing and requesting officials concerned to sign the files.
Though the caretaker government will run the administration as usual even after dissolution of Assembly, there was a certain anxiety among those waiting for various government clearances.
With many visitors making a beeline to various departments, the police manning the traffic in the Secretariat premises had to be on their toes with sudden spurt in the number of vehicles heading for various Secretariat blocks. The maximum number of visitors appeared to be to the Finance Department and notable among them were many MLAs, MLCs seeking release of funds for various works in their constituencies and districts.
Comes alive
The Wednesday’s atmosphere in Secretariat was in contrast to the relatively nonchalant one over the last few years .The hustle and bustle that was normally associated with the Secretariat had been missing for the most of the time, more so after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao chose to function from his Camp Office — the sprawling Pragathi Bhavan in Begumpet — instead of the C Block housing Chief Minister’s Office.
While half of the Secretariat earmarked for Andhra Pradesh Secretariat had become a deserted place after AP Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu moved the State Secretariat to Amaravati, the Telangana Secretariat mostly looked lacklustre with the VVIP — Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao — too not attending office at the Secretariat.
Chief Minister’s dislike for the present Secretariat complex is well known and he tried his best without success during his tenure to get clearance from the Centre for his proposal to construct a new Secretariat complex in the Bison Polo Grounds belonging to the Defence Ministry.
As the Chief Minister kept away from the Secretariat, it had an impact on the visitors. One was not sure when the Chief Secretary, CMO officials and senior officers would head for Pragathi Bhavan to attend meetings called by the Chief Minister there. These meetings often ended up as marathon and brain storming sessions. Thus, the daily turnout of visitors to the Secretariat gradually dwindled. Wednesday however, presented a picture in contrast!