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Khairatabad RTA building crying for repairs
The staff working at the RTA office at Khairatabad were a worried lot when chunks of the ceiling started falling off, walls became damp and cracks got wider last week. As a precautionary measure, 13 employees were shifted to a nearby room adjacent to the joint transport commissioner’s chamber from where they are presently operating.
​Hyderabad: The staff working at the RTA office at Khairatabad were a worried lot when chunks of the ceiling started falling off, walls became damp and cracks got wider last week. As a precautionary measure, 13 employees were shifted to a nearby room adjacent to the joint transport commissioner’s chamber from where they are presently operating.
Clarion calls were sounded not once but several times in the past, but no action was taken. T Raghunath, Joint Transport Commissioner said, “Last year, the room where I sat was repaired at a cost of Rs 1 lakh. At that point of time we wrote to the Roads & Buildings department to conduct an inspection of the building. The building is very old and needs immediate repairs.”
The structure which resembles an old bungalow typical of the ones built during the British Raj was gifted to the State government by Princess Noorjehan, niece of the VII Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan. Initially, senior government officials were living inside the building and later it was turned into an RTA office. It is said that a VIP had died in the building and ever since officers were reluctant to stay.
D L N Gandhi, former Joint Transport Commissioner, who worked from the same office between1999-2006 said, “In 2000, a part of the building was demolished for road widening and we had written to the Roads & Buildings department that the building had outlived its purpose and needs repairs.”
“The building is not a listed heritage structure but has a character of its own and the well-maintained garden all around the building is one of the few government offices that is pleasing to the eye. The building just needs repairs and maintenance,” said heritage activist Sajjad Shahid.
According to a senior RTA official, the building is not able to take the load on the first floor where lakhs of files are stacked in the record room. There is a Learning Licence Section, Establishment and Accounts Section, an Inward Section and a Motor Driving School Section.
On an average, around 350 people visit the Learning Licence Section. An official said if repairs are undertaken and the record room shifted to another place, the building could be saved. For now, it is too risky for people to work inside.
Raghunath said, “We are waiting for the R&B department to conduct an inspection. The staff are a frightened lot and want repairs to be undertaken at the earliest.”
