500 AP Home Guards In Telangana Await Inter-State Repatriation

Venkataramayya, a Home Guard working in Hyderabad away from his family in Andhra Pradesh, faced a peculiar situation, when his wife called him in tears and asked him to return home immediately as their son was not well. However, he required permission from his superiors to leave Hyderabad. With senior officials occupied with Ganesh festival duties, he was uncertain whether he would receive permission to travel home.

This is the situation that around 400 to 500 Home Guards from Andhra Pradesh, who continued to serve in Telangana after the state's bifurcation in 2014, have been facing for the past 11 years awaiting inter-state repatriation.

Following the bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2014, regulations and committees were constituted to oversee the division of government employees. However, Home Guards were classified as volunteers rather than permanent government employees, so their allocation and transfer were not carried out systematically.

Consequently, around 500 Home Guards belonging to various districts of Andhra Pradesh continue to work in Telangana. A significant number of them are from Guntur, Krishna and Kurnool districts and are deployed in wings including Hyderabad traffic and law and order.

The parents, spouses and children of many of these Home Guards live in Andhra Pradesh.

Since personnel are treated as “non-locals” in Telangana, where they work, they cannot avail benefits such as the special quota and age-limit relaxations available to Home Guards during Telangana police constable recruitment. They also miss out on certain welfare schemes in Telangana.

Because their Aadhaar cards, ration cards and residence certificates carry Andhra Pradesh addresses, they cannot access some benefits provided by the Telangana government. Their employment in Telangana, meanwhile, prevents them from fully accessing welfare schemes offered by the Andhra Pradesh government.

The distance from their families also creates difficulties during health emergencies, when they may not be able to reach their homes in Andhra Pradesh in time.

Around 300 Home Guards currently working in Andhra Pradesh reportedly want to move to Telangana. The Home Guards believe that mutual transfers between the two states could address the issue if both governments agree.

Representations on the matter submitted to the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are pending. With the support of senior leaders from various political parties, memoranda have been submitted to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

The Home Guards have urged both Chief Ministers to include inter-state transfers of Home Guards in the ongoing bilateral discussions on bifurcation-related issues and resolve the matter expeditiously on humanitarian grounds.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, senior police officials said the matter is under their consideration, although there has been some delay. “A decision regarding this will be made soon; it will not take longer. Home Guards need not worry.”

They said the police department always stood in support of them and they are making efforts to send as many Home Guards as possible.