The impact of State bifurcation became evident for the first time in the sprawling Secretariat complex on Saturday when physical barriers erected overnight, separated the blocks housing the Secretariats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Employees and visitors were taken aback to see the impregnable iron barriers, which not only prevented entry of vehicles through the common internal roadways, but also the movement of people as no leeway was provided between the barriers.
On top of it, two platoons of armed BSF and CRPF personnel stood guard near the barriers. Disturbed over the barricades restricting the free movement of employees and the presence of armed security forces, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Secretariat employees associations’ leaders Rajkumar Gupta and U. Muralikrishna said it was an attempt to create a psychological divide between the employees of the two regions, who continued to have friendly relations.
Interestingly, neither the Chief Secretaries nor top bureaucrats of both the States were aware of the decision to erect the barricades. “Apparently intelligence and security officers acted on direct instructions from the top political authority himself,” said a Telangana bureaucrat.
Inquiries revealed that after Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao expressed his displeasure over the inconvenience caused to his convoy of vehicles reaching the C block amid congestion, top intelligence officers inspected the premises and decided to segregate vehicles coming to both the Secretariats.
On learning the development, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao to take up the issue with Telangana Chief Secretary and convey that Secretariat be kept as a free zone and barricading it would not be appropriate.
