Rush for PRO posts among scribes has KCR scrap them

Hyderabad: Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to bring drastic changes to the offices of ministers.

The PRO (Public Relation Officer) system in the ministers’ offices will be abolished and Personal Secretaries (PS) to ministers will be appointed directly by the Chief Minister’s Office and not left to ministers to choose.

This is keeping in view allegations against some PROs and PSs in the previous government.

According to sources in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), after expansion of the Cabinet, several journalists approached TRS MP and party general secretary Joginapalli Santosh Kumar, who is close to the Chief Minister, to appoint them as PROs as they have been looking after the minister’s beat.

Mr Kumar was surprised at this request and brought it to the attention of the Chief Minister. According to sources, the CM told Mr Kumar not to engage any PROs in the ministers’ offices and to put an end to this system.

He said if a minister wants to appoint a PRO, he or she can approach the Information and Public Relations department. PROs in ministers’ offices earn a salary of Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 a month.

The CMO has also told ministers not to appoint Personal Secretaries of their choice. After the Cabinet is formed or expanded, officials approach ministers requesting to be taken on as Personal Secretaries. Several allegations had been made against Personal Secretaries in the previous government and so Mr Rao has decided that his office will select the secretaries after thoroughly screening the officers and ensuring they have command of the subjects the concerned minister will be dealing with.