Non-local staff must go to AP govt: KCR

• Government transfers Telangana leader Vittal to Andhra Pradesh
• KCR sets up a war room and a panel headed by TNGO chief
• It will gather info on AP staff and submit a report by June 2

Hyderabad: With the Appointed Day fast approaching, the process of distributing employees between the new State of Telangana and residuary State of Andhra Pradesh is causing heartburn among the employees from both the regions. The respective groups at the Secretariat are now at loggerheads over the issue of nativity, even before the process of state-wide distribution of staff has started. Making matters worse, the State government on Thursday transferred Telangana Udyogula Sangham president C Vittal to the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.

The T employees have taken a strong objection to this. Telangana CM-designate K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the distribution of employees should take place in a smooth and amicable manner and no employee from Seemandhra should be permitted to work in Telangana secretariat.

Sounding a word of caution, he said, “If they want to make this as a big issue and fight it out, we are ready for the fight.”

Reacting to it, the Seemandhra Secretariat Employees Forum threatened to approach the courts if injustice is meted out to any of their members. Forum leader Murali Krishna said that rules were not being followed in the process of distribution of employees. He said as many as 33 employees who were born in Hyderabad, studied here and got employment in Telangana zone are being asked to move over to the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat just because their parents belong to Seemandhra. As per the guidelines set under the Article 371(D), though their ancestors hail from Seemandhra, the employees who are born in Telangana should be treated as the natives of the region and should be absorbed in the Telangana government, he said.

Murali Krishna said that a delegation led by him would meet the AP CM-designate N Chandrababu Naidu soon and seek his intervention for repatriation of the employees before the issue turned into a complicated one for the two states.

TRS chief KCR argues that the Seemandhra staff working in Telangana Secretariat does not make any sense. He said his stand right from day one was that those who belong to Telangana should remain here and others should go and work in the Andhra Pradesh secretariat. “Policy decisions and key files are drafted in Secretariat. How can the Telangana government maintain secrecy if it does not have its own employees?” he said. Rao called upon Seemandhra employee union leaders to stop making provocative statements on staff distribution issue.

Rao addressing the employee’s organizations at Kompally on Thursday said that he had constituted a committee and had opened a war room headed by TNGO chief G Deviprasad who would gather the information pertaining to the nativity of each employee who belongs to Seemandhra and is working in the 10 districts of Telangana. He said the list would be ready by June 2 and after that the T government will identify as to who is a local and non-local. “All non-locals will have to go. There is no compromise on this,” he stated.

He said the case of transferring of Vittal to Seemandhra is a classic example of how a sensitive issue was being handled by the authorities. Vittal, it may be mentioned here is a senior assistant in Intermediate Board in Nampally and belongs to Medak district. There are 23 senior assistant posts in the department out of which 13 are allocated to Seemandhra and 10 to Telangana region. He was in the forefront of statehood movement.

KCR assured the employees that he would take up all such controversial issues with his Andhra counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu once the list of employees was ready and would try to resolve it. If the meeting of the two Chief Ministers fails to find a solution, then he would take up the issue with the Centre. If still justice was not done, then they will knock the doors of the judiciary Rao added.

He further announced that the Telangana special increment that was announced during elections would be paid and pay-scales would be on a par with the central government employees. He also reiterated that PRC recommendations would be implemented. The TRS chief said that health cards besides extended maternity leave period for women staff would also be granted. The new government, he said, would keep in abeyance all promotions that were given after passage of the Telangana Bill in Parliament.