TPCC chief A.Revanth Reddy continues to resist the dream project of Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao to build a brand new Telangana Secretariat in Hyderabad.
Revanth waged a long legal battle to stop the plans of KCR to demolish old Secretariat to construct a new one in its place at a cost of nearly Rs 1,000 crore. Due to Revanth’s case in High Court, the demolition was halted for nearly two years. Finally, the government secured High Court nod for demolition. KCR demolished old Secretariat building in July 2020 and started construction of new Secretariat in 2021. Already the works are going on at a brisk pace to complete the new Secretariat by December 2022.
Revanth also approached National Green Tribunal (NGT) two years ago against demolition of old Secretariat without obtaining environmental clearance from the Centre. The NGT directed Centre to file a counter on this issue. Revanth argued that environmental clearance is necessary as old Secretariat is located on the banks of Hussain Sagar.
But the Centre failed to file a counter even after two years. Angered at this, the Chennai bench of NGT directed Centre to file counter by March 15. It imposed Rs 10,000 penalty on officials concerned for failing to file the counter.
It warned that it will summon joint secretary of union environment ministry for next hearing if it fails to file counter by March 15.
