Telangana Cabinet to take call on unlock today

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has convened an emergency meeting of state Cabinet on Saturday to discuss and take a decision on whether to lift lockdown entirely from June 20 or continue only night lockdown for a few more days.

The ongoing lockdown from 6 pm to 6 am will end on Saturday and the state government has to take a decision on the future course of action. Against this backdrop, the Cabinet will meet at 2 pm at Pragathi Bhavan. The meeting is also expected to discuss matters such as rainfall, kharif crop season, lifting of Godavari water through Kaleshwaram project, hydel power generation and other issues.

The Chief Minister held a meeting with a few ministers at Pragathi Bhavan on Friday ahead of the Cabinet meeting. Ministers T Harish Rao, V Srinivas Goud, Mohd Mahmood Ali and Koppula Eashwar were present.

The meeting triggered speculations that the Chief Minister discussed effecting a major reshuffle of IAS and IPS officers soon in the state, which has been pending for long. The last major reshuffle of IAS officers was undertaken in February 2020, when 50 IAS officers at all levels including district collectors were transferred.

Similarly, the major reshuffle of IAS officers was undertaken three years ago in August 2018. Most of the key departments have no full time IAS officers and are handled by in-charge officials. The government is planning to streamline administration by removing in-charges and appointing full-time officials for key departments.

Several IPS officers though promoted in 2019 were still working in old positions and the government wants to give them suitable postings. A few districts have no full-time SPs. Those working for over four years in the same places are likely to be transferred.