Chennai: In a major administrative reshuffle at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) is set to move from its long-standing location inside the historic Fort St. George complex to the Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai (NKM), with renovation work progressing rapidly to prepare the new premises.
The relocation marks one of the most significant changes to the functioning of the Secretariat since the AIADMK government led by the late J. Jayalalithaa shifted key departments back to Fort St. George in 2011, reversing the previous DMK government’s decision to operate from the newly-built Omandurar Government Estate.
Officials said the decision has primarily been driven by an acute shortage of space at the existing Chief Minister’s Office, which has struggled to accommodate the large number of officials, visitors and delegations meeting Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay since he assumed office.
While speculation continues over other possible reasons behind the move, government sources maintained that the relocation is intended to improve administrative efficiency and visitor management.
The Chief Minister has been functioning from the first floor of the Main Building at Fort St. George, where the CMO has been housed for more than six decades.
Under the new plan, the office will occupy the 10th floor of Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai, a location that also offers an unobstructed view of the Bay of Bengal.
The Public Works Department has already begun preparatory work for the transition. The new CMO will be established in the existing dining hall located adjacent to the conference hall on the 10th floor.
Furniture, fixtures and other infrastructure from the dining hall are being shifted to Kalaivanar Arangam to make way for the new office.
The move will also require the relocation of several government departments currently functioning on the 10th floor.
Sections of the Information and Tamil Development Department, the Home (Prohibition) Department and the Commercial Taxes Department will be shifted to facilitate the establishment of the Chief Minister’s Office.
Officials said the Information and Tamil Development Department will be relocated to Kalaivanar Arangam, while the remaining departments will be accommodated elsewhere within the Fort St. George Secretariat campus.
Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai, a 10-storey Secretariat annex, currently houses the offices of Secretaries and sections of 34 government departments, making it one of the State’s most important administrative centres.
Constructed by Parsn Foundation and Engineering Company, the building was inaugurated by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in 1975 and has undergone multiple rounds of renovation over the decades.
The proposed shift is expected to become another milestone in the evolving administrative history of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat, which has witnessed several relocations over the past two decades.
The most notable of these occurred in 2010, when the DMK government shifted the Secretariat to the Omandurar Government Estate complex, only for the succeeding AIADMK government to restore operations to Fort St. George a year later and convert the Omandurar complex into a multi-speciality government hospital.
(IANS)
