Babus run Andhra Pradesh government

• Some Ministers seldom surface in Secretariat
• No important decisions are being taken
• Routine files are sent to their camp offices or residences
• Seemandhra Ministers are preoccupied with reworking their strategies

Hyderabad: The chairman of A P Scheduled Castes Finance Corporation, A Laxman Kumar, met Minister for Social Welfare Pithani Satyanarayana in his secretariat chambers and requested him to convene a meeting with officials on release of funds for implementing the various programmes sponsored by the government.

But the Corporation chief had a bitter experience as the minister responded with a polite refusal. “What funds you want, Laxman? When the state is boiling with the bifurcation issue, who is bothered about it? Let us discuss the issue after some time”, shot back the minister. The officer must have been left disappointed. But the minister seemed to have hardly any other option. He only represented the general mood of his Seemandhra colleagues. Things have undergone a marked change in the state secretariat ever since the CWC decided on July 30 last to bifurcate the state.

No minister is evincing due interest in the day-to-day functioning of their departments concerned. A majority of the Seemandhra ministers have been staying away from their chambers and are fully preoccupied with reworking their strategies.

Some of the ministers are seldom turning up at their offices and there is a considerable drop in the turnout of political crowd at the secretariat, too. In their absence the secretaries have been tasking themselves with decision making. When the signatures of the ministers concerned are required, they are being obtained by sending them to camp offices. The ministers are not showing the same interest in the routine files as earlier. An IAS officer on condition of anonymity said, “We have been sending the urgent and most immediate files relating to welfare matters and financial clearances to the residences of the ministers.”

The list of such Ministers includes Minister for Small and Minor Irrigation T G Venkatesh, Minister for Primary Education S Sailajanath, Minister for Stamps and Registration Thota Narasimha, Minister for Law E Prathap Reddy and Minister for Infrastructure and Ports Development Ganta Srinivasa Rao. Except few occasions, these ministers have not been to their chambers in Secretariat after July 30.

They are the ones in a way spearheading the movement against bifurcation, and hence hardly find any time for administrative matters. The Minister for Social Welfare Pithani Satyanarayana and Minister for Tribal Welfare P Balaraju to Secretariat are visiting the Secretariat now and then and they are said to be most of the time bound for the C block to get files cleared by the Chief Minister.

Minister for Municipal Administration Manugunta Mahidhara Reddy has his own style of functioning. An official in Municipal Administration said, “the Minister is clearing urgent, most immediate and immediate files at his official residence.” Minister for Mines and Geology G Aruna Kumari is also clearing files from her residence and not coming to the office.

Parthasarathy most regular

Only Minister for Technical Education and Prohibition and Excise K Parthasarathy has been going to his office more frequently than other ministers and clearing the files.

Performing both tasks with ease

Minister for Finance Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Minister for Agriculture Kanna Laxminarayana and Minister for Revenue N Raghuveera Reddy, who have been campaigning in favour of United Andhra Pradesh, have been performing their duties as Ministers in normal course. They have been attending the Secretariat regularly and conducting all the administrative meetings and the group of ministers’ consultations.

Some T Ministers alsoabstain

The attendance of the Telangana Ministers is also no better. Minister for Backward Classes B Saraiaha, Minister for Housing Uthamakumar Reddy, Minister for Horticulture R Venkat Reddy, Minister for Marketing Mukesh Goud and Minister for Labour and Employment Danam Nagender have not been regular to the Secretariat of late. They too have been clearing the files from their residences.

Four T mantris show accountability

Minister for Information and Public Relations D K Aruna, Minister for Information Technology P Laxmaiah, Minister for Civil Supplies D Sridhar Babu and Minister for Women and Family Welfare Sunita Laxma Reddy have been demonstrating more accountability by fulfilling their duties without regularly so that the administration in their departments is not affected.

Damodara Rajanarasimha, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education, has been mostly pre-occupied with the issues related to political fallout in the aftermath of the division these days. A hot contender for the Chief Minister post for the new state of Telangana in the event of bifurcation, he has been shuttling between Delhi and Hyderabad and engaging himself with meetings with other T ministers, leaders etc.

He has been seen visiting his office in Secretariat off and on, getting some files cleared, which do not relate to his ministry such as SC/ST Sub Plan works. He has not actively participated in the meetings of professional colleges fee fixation, admissions either.

The issue of bifurcation has certainly hampered the regular work in the education ministries – Higher, Secondary and Primary. Parthasarathy, Minister for Secondary Education, could not concentrate on his ministry for the past few months. He is also a strong votary of United Andhra Pradesh cause.

He assured that TET, which was deferred due to agitation in Seemandhra region, would be conducted soon but evaded a reply on DSC. The recruitment of TGTs in Model Schools, Telugu Pandits, the issue of DSC-2012 first list candidates etc have been pending. But some of the files with regard to secondary schools, junior colleges, transfers have been cleared by the Minister and the remaining key files may gather dust until bifurcation. Rajeswar Tiwary, Principal Secretary to Secondary Education, is clearing urgent files, sources said.

For Sake Sailajanath, Minister for Primary Education, the clearance of ‘some key files’ is as much important as the issue of division of the State. He has been giving his stamp of approval for renewal of 450-plus D Ed colleges for the past two months. On an average, he is clearing 15 colleges daily. He is visiting the department frequently but not taking any policy decisions. Files related to the release of funds to Rajiv Vidya Mission, implementation of RTE etc are some of the files he has recently cleared, sources said.

Other files have been handled by Poonam Malakondaiah, Principal Secretary of Primary Education, Vani Mohan, Commissioner of School Education, and V Usha Rani, State Project Director of RVM. The issue of fee fixation of professional colleges is mostly handled by Chairman of the Higher Education Council along with Ajay Jain, Commissioner of Technical Education, and of course, Ajay Mishra.