Vijayawada: The administrative structure of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) is to be revamped shortly. Following a report that appeared in these columns last month, the Chief Minister has reportedly directed his own intelligence team to assess the performance of the Team of Bureaucrats-2014 (ToB-2014), presently engaged in CMO’s day-to-day administration.
After going through the reports, the Chief Minister has decided to make some changes in the existing administrative structure of the CMO. “Very soon, two to three IAS officers will be given some other responsibilities,” a senior IAS officer, who attended the two-day collector’s conference, told this correspondent. The Chief Minister is presently asssessing the performance of each IAS officer in their given disciplines, he said.
The process to finalise the list of IAS officers to be placed in the CMO is currently going on and the Chief Minister will take a final call on this subject with a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.
In fact, name of the present TTD executive officer (EO) Dr D. Sambasiva Rao is floating as the top name in the list. The names of Principal Secretary Ajay Jain (Energy, CRDA and I&I) and West Godavari collector Bhaskar Katamaneni also are reportedly in consideration for the CMO’s administrative structure.
While the ToB-2014 consists of four IAS officers, including special chief secretary Satish Chandra, the new officers likely to be inducted in the CMO will be given additional responsibilities.
“There is a possibility of one or two existing officers being given postings outside the CMO,” the senior IAS officer said and added that the entire exercise is aimed at bringing out more transparency and speedy disposal of files at the CMO.
In fact, Mr Sambasiva Rao has completed his two years term as the EO, TTD, and is reportedly looking for a change. Known for his integrity and dedication, he has been the choice of the Chief Minister for the CMO, according to sources.
While Siddarth Jain, known for his wide contacts in the Union gover-nment, West Godavari collector Bhaskar Katama-neni has scored marks in implementation of welfare schemes and development works in the district.
The exercise is part of image-building process
The Chief Minister has reportedly arrived at the decision of revamping the CMO as the process of image-building slowed down in the CMO following the influence of the consultants engaged by the bureaucrats working in the CMO.
Several ministers and even key leaders of the Telugu Desam have been expressing their dissatisfaction over too much interference of the consultants in the routine administration. The TD -1982 batch senior leaders are openly discussing in the CMO corridors about the functioning of the Team Of Bureaucrats-2014 (TOB-2014) of the CMO.
The TOB-2014 is certainly not up to the mark, when compared to the TOB-1995 of the CMO, a senior leader close to the CM said. The TOB-2014 is widening the gap between the big heads of the industry, who worked hard and supported Mr Chand-rababu Naidu, while the TD was not in power, he analysed. He also gave some recent examples as to how the proposals of the industrialists are being turned down, with the intervention of the consultants.
The present team in the CMO compriss chief secretary Satya Prakash Tucker, special chief secretary Satish Chandra, principal secretary G. Saiprasad, additional secretary Adusumilli V. Rajamlouli and joint secretary P.S. Pradyumna. Among these officers, generally Mr Tucker and Mr Satish Chandra are available almost all along the day, whereas the availability of other officers is little bit difficult, according to the VIP visitors to the CMO.
“During Chandrababau Naidu’s earlier regime, IAS officers Lakshmi-narayana, Uma Mahes-wara Rao, Balasubrah-manyam and S.V. Prasad used to take care of the branding of the CMO as well the Chief Minister,” a senior NRI industrialist shared his views some time ago. He felt that the present CMO is simply following the dictum of the consultants, which has been widening the gap between the officials.
