Hyderabad, July 10: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has expressed his regret and pain over the inconvenience caused to the temple and mosque in the Secretariat premises due to the demolition work.

"The government has begun to construct a new Secretariat building complex by demolishing the old buildings. I came to know that, while demolishing the multi-storied old buildings, the temple and mosque adjacent to the old buildings were damaged due to fall of the debris on them. I felt sorry about the incident. It should not have happened," Rao said. "The government's intention is to build a new complex by demolishing the old buildings without causing any damage to the temple or the mosque," the Chief Minister clarified. High Court Stays Demolition of Telangana Secretariat Old Building Till July 13.

He went on to add, "We will construct a temple and mosque in the Secretariat premises in a more spacious way even (if) it means spending of crores of rupees. We will construct the temple and mosque at the government cost and hand them over (to) the people concerned. I will have a meeting with the temple and mosque organisers on this matter very soon. After discussing with them, along with the new Secretariat, places of worship will also be constructed and handed over to the concerned. This is my promise.

Speaking about Telangana's "secular spirit", Rao said, "We will continue the secular spirit come what may. This incident happened unexpectedly. Everyone should understand this properly without prejudice."