Vastu-bitten CM eyes IAS officers premise as new home

HYDERABAD: Bit by the Vastu bug, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wants to shift his official residence, and is now eying the IAS Officers Association’s office, angering the babus in the process.
Plans are in place for the government to take over the land and building leased out to the association for 33 years in 2000 as the place offers better Vastu propositions than his current residence in Begumpet, sources confirmed.
Indicating that the lease will soon be cancelled, the Roads and Buildings department officials privately said, they have started leveling the ground on the rear side of the four-acre plot, where the officer’s swimming pool is located.
According to sources, even if the CM does not move into the building immediately, he will anyway want the IAS officers to move out from the South-west side of his current residence, because Vastu experts have told the CM that since this contentious plot is at an elevated position, the residents of the plot (IAS officers) could dominate governance.
“For Vastu to work in his favour, the CM will have to occupy the elevated plot,” a source said. While the Telangana cadre officers have not voiced their dissent against the CM’s decision, sources said that retired-IAS officers from the Andhra cadre have approached the governor E S L Narasimhan to express their ire.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act’s, section 8 (1), says that the governor will have the final say on the “management and allocation of government buildings in the common capital area.”
The fact that the CM has not taken consent of the governor, has also irked babus of Andhra Pradesh cadre. “The association belongs both to Telangana and AP officers. How can the CM of one state take over the building? This is nothing but high-handedness,” another source said.
Interestingly, it is not just the AP Reorganization Act that would come in the way of KCR’s decision to annex the plot, as in April 2006, the 125-year-old building was declared a heritage monument. “The CM also needs to take clearance from heritage conservationists and other bodies that are responsible for the preservation of heritage sites in the state,” the source said. The premises is not only spread across a sprawling campus but also had a basketball court and swimming pool.
Even going by ethical code of conduct, the CM should not be taking over the building for the next 10 years, simply because Hyderabad would remain the common capital. “This is a place which is used by all officers residing in Hyderabad. Even retired officers who live close by use the premises. The CM should have considered all this before deciding to annex the plot,” another source rued.