Birth pangs: What happens to Andhra Bhavan now?

Rumours abound that the canteen may expand its menu to include specialities from the new State

June 06, 2014 10:06 am | Updated 07:22 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

The textiles on display at the ‘APCO Handlooms’ outlet inside Andhra Bhavan here will probably get divided based on which region it comes from. This is Padam Bahadur’s theory. The Nepali who runs the outlet and speaks fluent-Telugu feels that the Pochampally Patola saris, for instance, that are woven in the Nalgonda district of Telangana will soon be separated from the Dharmavaram Patolas which comes from Andhra’s Anantpur district.

His colleague, Vijayalakshmi agrees. “Telangana will now claim the Gadwal saris too which are woven in Mahbubnagar district,” she says. Then there are a range of items such as towels, lungis , the ‘popular’ bed sheets, durries and ‘white neta shirts’ that could be claimed by both.

So far, collections have been handsome with the outlet raking in as much as Rs.6 lakh per month, says Vijaylakshmi, whose husband works as a senior assistant at the Andhra Bhavan. Padam, however, clarifies that he and his colleague are not theorising in the air. “The Board Director of the facility came on an inspection a few days back and he indicated that there could be some reorganisation soon which means two different outlets,” he says.

Next to him stood 24-year-old Namdeo who takes care of the ‘Vijay Dairy’ that most visitors to the famous canteen at Andhra Bhavan walk past. His outlet sells a series of items: ice-creams, ghee, butter, paneer , lassi and pedas . “Right now, there are no plans to move my outlet. But I hope no one fights over the canteen,” the youngster from Telangana says of an eatery popular as much for its thali as for its spicy mutton and chicken fry.

On most days, hungry stomachs line up outside the canteen and rumours abound that it may expand its menu to include specialities from the newly-born State. Namdeo says Telangana is famous for its biryani . Yet, at 1, Ashoka Road here, the lines that were drawn to demarcate the new districts from the residual State of Andhra Pradesh in South India are not outwardly evident. The couple of large banners announcing the ‘State of Telangana’ that hang from walls is the only indication of change.

Special Officer at the A.P. Information Centre P. Kiran Kumar says the re-organisation that has taken place within the premises has affected staff members. “There are five departments functioning inside the Bhavan: information services, tourism, roads and buildings, pay and accounts and legal services. None of these departments have been split up, only staffers have been segregated – 38 of the 96 staff have been allotted to Telangana,” he says.

Mr. Kumar says that the 72 rooms across the three blocks of Godavari, Swarnamukhi and Sabari too have been divided on a 58 - 42 ratio with the smaller share going to Telangana. “As far as I have heard, this is a temporary arrangement till the Telangana State builds its own Bhavan,” he says.

Padam Bahadur has apparently heard on the grapevine that it could be the “Pataudi House…”

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