State falls short of babus

Formation of smaller districts

• State needs additional 75 civil servants
• Requests Union Home Ministry and DOPT to allocate at least 60 IAS and IPS officers during 2016
• AP too asks for more officers to overcome admin challenges

New Delhi: Telangana government's plans to bifurcate its districts into smaller segments are easier said than done. Going by the proposal being mooted by the government, the State would be requiring anywhere around 75 civil servants in addition to the existing force drawn both from the IAS and IPS cadres.

After the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana State feels the pinch in the form of shortage of civil servants. The State capital, Hyderabad, is split into two comissionerates, Hyderabad and Cyberabad as far as the police are concerned. And there are again two corporations - civic administration-wise - Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. This apart, it has several institutions like Centre for Good Governance etc.

The State government is desperate to get at least 60 IAS and IPS cadre officers this year by the DOPT (Department of Personnel and Training) so that its vacancy position is taken care of. In addition, it also seeks to augment its administrative pool in view of the plan to create 13 more districts.

Though, the Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, had earlier appealed to the Union Home Ministry and the DOPT to allocate at least 60 IAS and IPS officers during 2016 from the civil servants undergoing training now, the administration feels 15 more - that takes the figure to 75 - would be helpful in strengthening the governance as there are key projects like Mission Kakatiya in the State which needs to be administered by the IAS officials.

Moreover, each new district would be requiring at least two IPS officers and two IAS officers (one SP and one additional SP and one Collector and one Joint Collector). Then there are sub-collectors who are required and these also come from the IAS pool and that too after completing their training. Apart from regular police force, there are several special forces too that are manned by the IPS officers.

Hence, on paper the proposal to create more districts is easier to read, but when it comes to actually creating the districts it would be a herculean task. The DOPT had earlier asked the Telangana government to prioritise its needs and submit its requirement to it.

Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma and DGP Anurag Sharma, who were here on Tuesday in this regard, met the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other DOPT officials to seek their nod for a higher allocation of the cadres to the State in view of its plans.

At least 25 IPS cadres were the immediate requirement, they had explained to the Centre, it is learnt. It may be recalled that AP government too is seeking more IAS and IPS cadres this year in view of the challenges it is facing in the new State. Recently, its Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao had urged the DOPT to allot 30 IAS cadres this year to the State from the trainee pool to overcome the administrative challenges.