Post bifurcation of united Andhra, these 24 officials are pleading for a 'government' and a job
Synopsis
These 24 officials were formerly employees of the united AP secretariat. After bifurcation, they chose to join the AP secretariat, but could not be accommodated because of lack of vacancies. They are also not being accepted back by the Telangana secretariat.
The bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh has indeed made lives difficult. While the economy of divided Andhra Pradesh received a huge setback, infrastructure and facilities too had to be reconsidered. Things seem to have normalised now, but not for these 24 government officials who are running from pillar to post for a job and a government.
Often seen borrowing money, they have been rendered helpless by the divided government who are yet to determine how to absorb them. Without salary for the past 4 months, these officials travel twice every week for 5 hours to place their case at the AP Secretariat at Velagapudi. Speaking to the New Indian Express, one of the officials A Ram Kumar said, "“Instead of accommodating us, the AP government wrote to the Telangana government, saying it should take us back. But after relieving us, the Telangana government promoted 24 employees as section officers in our positions, and said we couldn’t be taken back. On paper, we are still government employees but without jobs and salaries and without a government."
All 24 of them who are residents of Hyderabad used to work in the united AP secretariat. They were originally from various regions in the newsly-made Andhra Pradesh and had also opted to join the AP government post bifurcation. According to a report by the AP Reorganisation Act and recommendations of the C R Kamalnathan Committee, the employees were redistributed at 52:48 per cent ratio based on the population of both states. However, after the division of employees, these 24 officials were found to be in excess by the AP government.
Ironically, the government had previously assured these employees accomodation despite the excess staff. The 24 section officers said that though they knew “there could be problems”, they opted for Andhra Pradesh only after they were assured by the Kamalnathan Committee where former Chief Secretaries of AP and Telangana, S P Tucker and Rajiv Sharma, were present.
Another of the officials, C Srinivas said, "The Andhra Pradesh government had assured us that even if there was excess staff, they would accommodate us but after we were relieved by Telangana, they went back on their word. Every month we go twice or thrice to the AP Secretariat at Velagapudi (a five-hour ride away) to plead our case but everyone brushes us off. We are also urging the Telangana government to take us back."
Meanwhile, AP Minister for Information and Public Relations Kalava Srinivasulu said, "There are no existing vacancies at all for section officers in AP Government, so we could not take them and asked them to go back to Telangana." Incidentally, on July 5, AP Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar wrote to his Telangana counterpart that they have not been able to accomodate the officials and that they be taken back. But by that time, the Telangana government had promoted other officers to their post.
A Telangana official at the CMO's office said, "We have already promoted Telangana-origin Assistant Section Officers as SOs in place of the 24 employees who have been relieved. We cannot take them back now. AP agreed to take them and is now pushing them back to us."
The dilemma has also divided thelabour unions of both the state. For instance, K Ravinder Reddy, president of the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers (TNGOs) Union said, "f natives of Andhra Pradesh continue to work in the Telangana Secretariat or in the government, what is the purpose of having a separate Telangana state? We fought for a separate state because in united AP, Telangana people were neglected and ignored and all government jobs were cornered by people from AP. Why should Telangana now accommodate Andhra natives who opted to work in Andhra Pradesh?”
Another union at the Telangana Secretariat, against the taking back of the officials, said, "When there is a separate association to take up issues regarding Secretariat staff, what is the need for TNGOs Union to interfere and hold meetings on the 24 section officers? We are also against any attempt by the Telangana government to take back the 24 SOs but we will take up the issue on our own."