Twenty-five days after Telangana and Andhra Pradesh came into existence, the bureaucrats and staff in both the Secretariats are yet to settle down properly in their respective blocks.
The situation is all the more messy in the AP Secretariat blocks, with furniture and file sacks dumped across the corridors while department heads are forced to function amidst several constraints.
Though J, K, L, South H and North H blocks were allotted to the AP Secretariat and A, B, C and D blocks to the Telangana Secretariat, officials realised late in the day that AP blocks did not have adequate space to accommodate all the principal secretaries, secretaries and their staff. The authorities who made space allocation failed to take into account the common utilities, which reduced the space available for AP Secretariat. The delay in AIS cadre allocation barring 44 IAS officers ordered to serve in Telangana also added to the space constraints. The situation took an embarrassing turn on Thursday when the Telangana staff of the Medical and Health Department who were to move to D block remained in L block and requested the AP Energy Department to shift to L block.
Consequently, the Energy Department officials took up the issue with AP GAD officials. “We are hard pressed to provide adequate space to all secretaries and their staff in L block as top two floors were allotted to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary. We will make the necessary adjustments in the next two days,” a senior official said. “This situation could have been avoided had the blocks been allotted to both the Secretariats much before the appointed day. But space allocation was not done till June 1,” sources added.
Meanwhile, a Special Chief Secretary was entrusted to look into space constraints in the AP Secretariat and if there is shortage, to report the matter to the Governor.
