Dwindling faith: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Secretariat staff losing trust

Hyderabad: The delay in distribution of state-cadre employees between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is leading to growing distrust among Secretariat employees.

Hundreds of Seemandhra employees are working for TS and vice-versa in both the states’ Secretariats since the bifurcation of united AP in June last year.

In the TS Secretariat, personal and deputy secretaries hailing from Seemandhra region and working for principal secretaries in crucial departments are being transferred on suspicion that they are leaking crucial information regarding the government's polices, activities and files to the AP government and the “Seemandhra media”.

After the recent Graduate MLC poll debacle in Hyderabad Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar constituency for the ruling TRS, the TS government expedited the process to identify Seemandhra employees working at deputy secretary and personal secretary level. It examined 25 personal secretaries and found that 14 belonged to Seemandhra and transferred 11 of them.

Similarly, it is expected to transfer another 20 deputy secretaries soon. The government is of the strong view that the information leaked to the media just before the polling, about the TS government contemplating giving bonds to pay salary arrears to employees, led to severe resentment among employees who voted against the TRS.

During internal meetings with Chief Minister K. Chandra-sekhar Rao after the poll debacle, the ministers were learnt to have brought to his notice that several Seemandhra employees continued to work in crucial positions in important departments and were leaking information regarding the government's proposals even before the government took any decision.

These reports gained credence after the TS government started transferring these employees without giving any postings.

However, the transferred employees argue that they belong to Telangana since they were born and brought up in Hyderabad and it's not fair to label them as “Seemandhra employees” just because their parents were born in Seemandhra.

“Article 371 (D) should be taken into consideration to determine the nativity wherein the last seven years of schooling of an employee should be taken into account before securing the job. Out of these seven years, wherever the employee pursues education for a maximum period, he should be treated as a local of that state. This has nothing to do with where the parents of employees were born,” said U. Murali Krishna, president, AP Secretariat Employees’ Association. However, the TS Secretariat Employees Association is dismissing the argument.

Distrust spreads to other offices

Distrust among TS and AP employees is spreading to government offices outside the Secretariat too.

Telangana employees in the Commercial Taxes, Revenue and Excise departments, which remain the major revenue earners for the Telangana government, are demanding removal of Seemandhra employees from crucial positions, alleging that they are sabotaging tax collections of the TS government.

TS employees of the Commercial Taxes departments are on a warpath, holding demonstrations and agitations in front of Commercial Tax Offices regularly demanding removal of Seemandhra employees from crucial positions.

They allege that in Hyderabad and Secu-nderabad, most of the 11 deputy commissioners hail from Seemandhra and they are not working sincerely for the TS government, leading to non-realisation of tax collection targets. They point out that there are only a few TS employees in the 56 circles of the Commercial Taxes department in the city, and Seemandhra employees continue to dominate in these circles even 10 months after bifurcation of the state.

They complain that the Seemandhra employees, who are in higher positions in these departments, harass lower-rung TS employees when questioned about discrimination being meted out to them.

Frequent agitations by TS employees are also being witnessed at Revenue offices and Excise offices.

“The government could not achieve even 60 per cent of the tax collection targets of the previous budget presented in November last year due to non-cooperation by Seemandhra employees in crucial positions. The government has further increased the targets for 2015-16. If the same Seemandhra employees are continued with, the chances of meeting even 50 per cent of the budgetary targets are remote," said Dr P. Madhusudhan Reddy of the TS Employees’ JAC