Congress government scraps plan to house offices at T-Hub after backlash

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has scrapped the proposal to accommodate government offices at T-Hub following widespread criticism. He directed officials to retain the facility exclusively for startups and relocate offices functioning from rented buildings to government-owned premises.

Hyderabad: After widespread criticism over the Congress government’s decision to accommodate a few government offices at T Hub, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directed Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao to scrap the move.

The Chief Minister, who is currently on a US tour, spoke to the Chief Secretary over the phone and issued the instructions on Saturday.

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“There should be no government offices in T-Hub, which is an incubator and innovation catalyst. If there are any plans, withdraw them,” Revanth Reddy said to the Chief Secretary.

He said government offices that were operating from private rented buildings should instead be accommodated in other government-owned buildings, while T-Hub should continue as an exclusive incubator and innovation centre for startups.

The instructions were issued following widespread criticism from different sections over the proposal to accommodate a few government offices at T-Hub in Raidurg.

The Congress government is working to accommodate government offices functioning from private rented buildings into government-owned premises. As part of this initiative, 39 government offices were being relocated to new buildings.

Under the plan, the Commercial Taxes department, Begumpet unit, and Sub-Registrar Offices of Rangareddy, Balanagar, Serlingampally and Gandipet were to be accommodated at T Hub. Together, these offices were allocated nearly 65,000 square feet of space at the facility.

However, people questioned the Congress government’s rationale in relocating government offices to T-Hub, saying it would defeat the very purpose of establishing the world’s second-largest startup innovation hub and India’s biggest startup incubation hub.

The BRS government had established T-Hub. Some also viewed the move to relocate government offices into the facility as an attempt to wipe out the imprints of the previous government.