HYDERABAD: Days after the Chief Minister’s Office claimed that the Union Defence Ministry approved of handing over Bison Polo grounds to the state government for constructing the new State Secretariat, social activists and environmentalists once again raised concern over the tax payers money being wasted.
Not withstanding opposition from any corner of the society, CM pitched up the idea of transferring defence lands once again with Union Defence minister Arun Jaitley, who reportedly agreed to give the defence land for construction of a new secretariat.
This raised concerns of environmentalists and also those who get their livelihood by the activities, mainly jogging and others, that go on the grounds.“I see a lot of female NCC cadets who come here to practice and would their parents be willing to send them to a far off place if this is shifted?” questioned a street vendor who supplies the cadets with lemon juice. I can shift my bandi to some other place and make a living but the trees which give us shade will be cut, she lamented.
With close to `600 crore that will burden the state exchequer, the already `50 crore that was allocated in the 2017-2017 budget to build a new building is set to be a waste. Incidentally, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spent `100 crore on Pragati Bhavan and is holding all his official meetings from there only.Social activist Prof P L Visweshwar Rao said that it is a waste of public money at the cost of building a ‘concrete jungle’ in a lung space.
“Let there be a referendum, after all, our’s is a democracy. People should say if they want their money to be spent on a new secretariat when there is already one running. The Chief Minister should consult all interest groups and then take a decision,” said Purushotham Reddy, an environmentalist.
Meanwhile, Krishank Manne, TPCC official spokesperson who carried out several campaigns to ‘Save Bison Polo grounds’ said, “We are not going to stop our fight to retain the lung space of the city for a selfish motive of the Chief Minister. We will continue our fight to save Bison Polo grounds.”