Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday initiated the process to construct a 100-per cent vaastu-compliant Secretariat. Chief secretary Rajiv Sharma held a meeting with all heads of departments and sought details about the number of employees, vacancies and the office space required for them in the new premises.

The CM’s block in the new complex will be tallest with five floors, and six separate blocks of four floors each will be built for the 24 ministers. This is in compliance with vaastu that the “ruler” should function from a place that is at a greater height than the others.

Though at present there are 17 ministers, more blocks are being planned for an expanded Cabinet, keeping in view the TRS government’s plans to increase the number of districts in the future. The government also plans to hold the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations in the new Secretariat premises. The construction plan is being prepared in consultation with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s vaastu adviser Suddala Sudhakar Teja, who was appointed by the Telangana government recently as “adviser on architecture to the government.”

Besides vaastu, priority will be given to architecture to reflect the richness of Telangana history, culture and tradition. The new Secretariat will come up on the 72-acre plot on which the Chest and TB Hospital currently stands in Erragadda. The government has decided to shift the hospital to Vikarabad, which is 70 km from the city. However, the new Secretariat buildings will occupy less than 30 acres and the rest will be used for developing facilities for visitors and landscaping.

But parking will pose a challenge. Mr Rao wants the parking area away from the buildings to avoid pollution, and to ensure that the architectural beauty of the buildings is not lost due to parked vehicles surrounding them. After finalising the draft plan based on these suggestions, the Telangana government plans to appoint a top international consultant to draft the master plan for the new Secretariat based on which the government will complete the project with a deadline of one year.