Telangana Depts accelerate office relocation from rented premises to Govt buildings; 18 days left before deadline

The Telangana Government departments have expedited steps to relocate their offices functioning from private or rented premises before the January 31, 2026 deadline set by the Government even as considerable office space available with the Schedule IX and X institutions remains unused owing to the unresolved disputes between two Telugu States — Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The departments are left with 18 more days to shift to Government premises.

According to senior officials, over 60 offices within the Hyderabad limits are functioning from other premises and most of them can be adjusted into the space available in Government buildings before the month-end. “We are confident that a majority of these offices will be shifted before the deadline,” a senior official said.

There are offices like that of Station House Offices of Excise department and the Sub-Registrar Offices in the districts which continue to function from rented premises as permanent buildings to accommodate them have not been constructed yet and Same is the case with institutions like Anganwadi centres, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) sub-centres located in villages owing to unavailability of Government infrastructure in the respective places.

Sources said the Government spent ₹198.92 crore in 2024-25 and ₹299.95 crore in 2023-24 towards payment of rents of different Government offices across the State. Besides this, rent to the tune of ₹450 crore is being remitted to the offices in the twin cities too, but a major chunk of this is “book adjustment” — there is no money transaction since tenant and owner are State Government departments, but rent is mentioned in books.

“Several offices are accommodated in the premises owned by quasi-governmental organisations and public sector undertakings (PSU). Payment of rent in these cases is basically through book adjustment,” a senior official told The Hindu. The official said that payment of rent, especially in respect of the PSUs does not come into the Government accounts.

Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao, in a circular issued to the departments recently, requested the Heads of Departments and Heads of Institutions to take possession of buildings or premises vacated by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh so that the offices functioning from other premises could be shifted there.

The Special Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and senior officials have been directed to obtain the present status of taking possession of these buildings and report to the Chief Secretary’s office ‘urgently’. Officials said the Andhra Pradesh Government had not yet vacated the office buildings allotted to it as part of State Reorganisation when Hyderabad was the common capital for 10 years. Premises like the Lake View Guest House and the Hermitage Buildings are yet to be taken over fully by the Telangana Government and they are either under lock and key or with skeletal staff.