The plight of over 700 employees of Telangana origin working in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat and offices of the heads of departments in the neighbouring State appears to worsen with the AP government’s decision to shift a major chunk of the State executive to Visakhapatnam from Amaravati.
These employees, particularly in the Class III and Class IV ranks, are already facing considerable burden on account of their allocation to the neighbouring State as their families are settled in Telangana and they are forced to travel to the State Capital more often than not. Shifting of their base from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam is likely to exacerbate their plight as fulfilling basic requirements like finding a house and visiting their home State will take a toll on their meagre salaries.
Of the total employees, 176 are working in different secretariat departments while another 538 are working in the HoDs. These employees were locals to Telangana and opted for allotment to the State, but were allotted to the neighbouring State against their options in the reverse order of seniority as per approved guidelines.
Official request
The then AP Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam, after a series of discussions with senior officials of Telangana government, sought the State’s concurrence for sending back these employees who were allotted to AP post-bifurcation. In a letter addressed to former Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Mr. Subrahmanyam said the AP government was prepared to relieve these employees as and when a formal request was made by the Telangana government either to send them back on permanent basis or on deputation to their home State leaving a final decision on the issue to Telangana government.
The letter followed the Telangana government’s proposal for accommodating Class IV staff by way of redeployment with pay protection in the heads of department/zonal district officers. But, no formal request has been sent to the AP government in this regard subsequently. “A file in this regard has been prepared immediately after the receipt of letter from the then AP Chief Secretary and circulated. It is still awaiting clearance from the government,” a senior official told The Hindu.
