<span style="color: #222222;">The Telangana state Government has begun demolishing the Old Secretariat Buildings in Hyderabad early this morning. Spread over 25 acres of area in the heart of Hyderabad city, the old secretariat with ten blocks, has been functioning since 1950s and also houses a building from where the Nizam used to run the administration. The state Government had informed the state High Court earlier over a petition against demolition, that,  some of the blocks in the old Secretariat are in dilapidated condition and some new blocks are also not in tune with the safety norms.<br />''<br />''According to the authorities, the construction of the new Secretariat building will be taken up at an estimated cost of about 400 crore rupees and  the work will commence  later during this month.<br />''<br />''Some of the blocks in the old Secretariat were built by the Nizams and chief ministers of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh like Boorgula Ramakrishna Rao, NT Rama Rao and Marri Chenna Reddy. After the formation of Telangana state in 2014, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao also functioned from the Secretariat for some time before shifting his camp office to Pragathi Bhavan.</span><br />