Never in the past 20 year of its existence, has NTR Trust Bhavan worn a such deserted look: flow of visitors has almost come to a naught. TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has stopped visiting the tall and imposing party office located at Banjara Hills Road no 2. Party National Secretary Nara Lokesh Babu visits also have become few and far between. The days when the road used to be chock-a- block with hundreds of cars, and buses hired by the party workers, who come from far places to see their leaders, are gone.
Arguably, India’s first party office run on corporate style is now fallen unused. The TDP, the principal occupant of the sprawling complex, is shifting its base to Guntur. The employees are a confused lot as many of them are residents of Hyderabad and can’t move to Guntur. The Telangana TDP has become minuscule party after the defection of 12 MLAs. Only half a dozen die-hard senior leaders visit the office now and then. Once the TDP shifts its headquarters to Amaravati next month, what would happen to the building, built with a cost of about Rs five crore twenty years back?
The plot was allotted to NTR Trust Bhavan on April 30, 1977 on a lease period of 30 years, when Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister. On May 6, 1997, HUDA handed over the plot on Road No 2 belonging to the then Jubilee Hills Municipality to MRO Shaikpet. On the same day MRO Shaikpet, handed over the land one D Srinivasrao, Trustee of NTR memorial Trust under a panchanama. Later the Naidu’s government issued a GO (MS No. 474) leasing out the land in favor of NTR Trust for a period of 30 years on a rent of Rs 90,000 per year with a provision for enhancement of 10 pc for every five years.
Whether the TDP was in power or not, the edifice has never lost its charm in the past 20 years. But, for the first time it suffered misfortune on the day when Naidu’s name surfaced in the cash-for -vote scam. It is believed that the Telangana police’s attempt to serve notice on Naidu and their nightlong wait at NTR Trust Bhavan and other places prompted Naidu to come to the conclusion that Hyderabad had become unsafe for him and his son. Things started changing with a rapid speed later. He announced that Capital would be shifted to Andhra in the interest of the people. He start working from Vijayawada overnight leading to the disuse of the once most happening place in Andhra Pradesh.
Amid the talk that TRS government has plans to cancel the lease and take back the building on the prime piece of land, sources in the TDP told Telugu360.com that the trust would convert the building into a hub of academic activities. Already the Trust has started coaching classes for the students who want appear competitive exams. The trust runs a blood bank too. Now, according to sources, NTR Trust is planning to launch many colleges and a wowen’s college to start with.
Telangan TDP president L Ramana said T-TDP would continue to function from one building and the rest would be used by the Trust for its activities. ” The question of keeping the building idle doesn’t arise. And there is no proposal to lease the premises for corporate companies,” he said
