One muhurat for all 3 shrines in secretariat: Telangana govt

HYDERABAD: Construction of three shrines will be finished before work on new secretariat gets over, roads and buildings minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said. He also said foundation stones for the temple, mosque and church on the secretariat premises will be laid soon on the same day.
The government has set an 11-month deadline for completion of new secretariat building from the time the work was taken up at the site.The minister informed the assembly on Friday that the government is committed to starting the work on temple, mosque and church on the same day.
“The one muhurat decision is in tune with the government’s secular stand,” a TRS leader said.
Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already told the officials to increase the plot area for the temple from 300-odd square yards to 1,500 square yards and that of mosque from 433 square yards to 1,500 square yards. The church will come up in 500 square yards.
On several occasions during the campaign in GHMC polls, the CM and ministers said the TRS government follows secular ideology while taking a dig at the BJP for trying to polarise voters.
Prashanth Reddy said a muhurat would be fixed for the foundation laying of three places of worship as auspicious days are ahead. “We will try to lay the foundation stones for all the religious structures before Ramzan,” he said. He was replying during question hour to AIMIM legislators who urged the government to lay the foundation for the two mosques before the start of the fasting month of Ramzan in mid-April.
AIMIM member Ahmed Pasha Quadri said they have confidence that the government would honour its commitment of constructing two mosques at the original sites in the secretariat.
Pasha Quadri along with party MLA Moazzam Khan urged the government to announce a specific date for the foundation laying ceremony. Plans for the two mosques have already been submitted to the government by the AIMIM. The foundation ceremony for the mosques scheduled on February 24 was postponed due to poll code, Quadri said.
The minister attributed the delay to election code and non-availability of auspicious days for temple foundation. Also, the secretariat premises was filled with gravel dug up for laying basement and foundation for the new secretariat complex. The gravel is being cleared now, he said.
The minister also said the mosque plans have been submitted to the Telangana State Waqf Board and that of the temple to the endowments department. “The best of the plans would be finalised,” he said but did not give any assurance that the plans submitted by the AIMIM would be finalised.
“If needed, the government will hold a meeting with Muslim religious scholars and AIMIM MLAs to select the best plan,” the minister added.