HYDERABAD: State government employees who are natives of Andhra Pradesh and working in Telangana, especially in Hyderabad, are not willing to shift to Andhra Pradesh despite Telangana government coming forward to issue NOC (no objection certificate) for the purpose, according to Telangana employees associations.
Employees of Andhra Pradesh nativity who were allotted to Telangana after the bifurcation of state in 2014 had sought inter-state transfers several times earlier but the Telangana government did not issue NOC then due to staff crunch in various departments.
However, the Telangana government issued a circular on September 9 seeking applications from AP native employees who want to shift to their native state in the wake of Telangana government planning to issue job notifications soon to fill over 50,000 vacancies.
But there has been not much response from AP employees for the Telangana government's offer, say representatives of employees associations. The higher pay scales and 61-year retirement age being implemented by the Telangana government from March 2021 when compared with AP are cited as reasons for the poor response.
Prior to March 2021, the retirement age in Telangana was 58 years while in AP it was 60 years. However, the Telangana government increased retirement age by three years to 61 years in March this year, which is a year more than in AP.
Moreover, the Telangana government extended new PRC pay scales giving 30 per cent fitment (hike on basic pay) from April 2021 while the AP government is yet to implement new PRC and only extending interim relief of 27 percent fitment, which is lower than Telangana.
The AP-native employees were asked to submit applications to their HoDs by October 15. The HoDs have to recommend all such applications to the Telangana government. The secretaries of respective departments have to issue NOC to the AP government.
On receipt of the acceptance/consent from the AP government, the employees should be relieved by the HoDs concerned. Once relieved, the transfer will be permanent and the employee shall not be taken back under any circumstances, says the circular issued by the Telangana government.
Telangana Udyogula Sangham leader A. Padma Chary said, "There are nearly 3,500 AP-native employees who are working in Telangana in various departments. Majority of them work in school education department as teachers. There is not much response from them to shift to AP considering that Telangana has higher pay scales and retirement age than AP being implemented from March/April this year. The situation would have been different had the Telangana government provided this opportunity earlier soon after bifurcation of the state."
He said there were around 350 employees who were Telangana natives working in AP at present and were seeking transfer to Telangana but AP government was yet to allow inter-state transfers.
