: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to implement five-day week for the employees working in the Secretariat, heads of department, corporations, and other State bodies that are being moved out to the Interim Government Complex at Velagapudi and other areas in and around the new capital Amaravati.
The Government said a decision to this effect had been taken to relieve the employees from the stress of managing their families on account of shifting to the new capital region.
Accordingly, it was decided to implement five-day week for a year, with working hours from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., for offices of the Secretariat, heads of departments, corporations and other instrumentalities.
The order would not be applicable to educational institutions, district and regional offices, local bodies and quasi-judicial institutions. The Government, however, deferred announcement on the date from which the new system would come into force. This, according to sources, was because of the uncertainty surrounding the exact date from which the functioning of offices at Velagapudi would commence.
While the Government had initially set June 15 deadline for the employees to shift base, it had later changed it to June 27.
Children’s education
Though no formal order had been issued in this direction, the heads of departments and other senior officials had been directed to be prepared to move to the new capital region immediately after the date was notified.
A section of the employees was also said to have expressed apprehensions over the admissions to their children in the educational institutions as the academic year would be well under way by the time the shifting process actually commences.
The Government is, however, said to be firm on shifting all the secretariat departments to the transitional headquarters as also accommodating some offices of the HoDs there.
Though it was initially proposed to construct two additional floors in the six buildings coming up in the transitional headquarters, the Government has reportedly dropped the move at least for the time being.
It was accordingly decided to accommodate the rest of the HoDs in rented accommodations and the officials concerned were instructed to identify the accommodation required.
The Krishna district administration is understood to have identified over eight lakh sq.ft area in this direction and was in the process of completing the required formalities.
