'Capital' punishment: Andhra's govt grinds to a halt

Chief Minister Naidu has demanded his government function from the soil of Andhra Pradesh (AP), rather clinging on to Hyderabad. This despite the fact that Hyderabad has been designated the joint capital of AP and Telangana for ten years. 

His deadline of June 29 for the official shifting - i.e., the physical movement of state employees and files - has currently brought the state machinery to a halt. The attempt, which has left employees functionally in neither Amaravati nor Hyderabad, was half-baked at best. 

While the offices at Amaravati are not yet ready, in Hyderabad employees have been unable to work as their files are being packed. 

The fact that the administration has come to a standstill is evident everywhere. Visitors to the secretariat and other offices are being turned away, with the claim that nothing can be done now because the government is in transit mode. 

An employee, whose medical bill has been pending with the education department for six months now, was yesterday told that he would have wait for another month or two since all the relevant files had been packed.

The shifting has begun officially on June 29, at 2.59 pm. Pujas were performed on the ground floor of the interim secretariat at Velagapudi at the time to symbolic begin the shifting of the administration from Telangana to AP. 

Though the entire shifting ceremony was performed with extraordinary fanfare, hours after the 'office warming', most of the state's employees made a beeline to the railway station to return to Hyderabad. The newly flagged off Vijayawada-Secunderabad super-fast express came handy. By nightfall, most (if not all) were right back at home, in Telangana’s Hyderabad.

But this is not surprising. Velagapudi lacks the infrastructure to begin government work. There is no power, roads or furniture in the offices. 

It would seem the 'symbolic shift' took place to please chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. Officials, who came back disappointed, told Asianet Newsable that it would take another month or more to get back in the saddle.

“As per the instructions, we performed the puja and broke coconuts in front of the cameras and ministers and political leaders. This has been celebrated as the great ‘homecoming’ to Andhra. And then we came back,” noted several employees who came back to Hyderabad. 

The employees, who returned after taking part in the so-called inauguration of their offices at interim secretariat at Amaravati feel that the completion of the entire secretariat, including its interiors, might take another month, if not longer. They are of the view that the full-fledged functioning of the temporary secretariat will commence only at the end of August.

In any case, these employees are unlikely to work without distractions for the time being as many of them are preoccupied with arranging accommodation in Vijayawada and Guntur and the shifting of schools for their children. 

“Except for participating in the chief minister’s  teleconferences and video conferences and attending review meetings by their officials, there won't’ be any  real work in the AP government offices at Hyderabad as entire administration is passing through shifting anxieties,” said woman employee, who returned to Hyderabad as Velagapudi lacked safe accommodations for female governmental employees.