The first phase of shifting of several offices of Head of Department (HoD) of Andhra Pradesh from Hyderabad to Amaravati would be completed on June 27, putting an end to the hopes of some employees that it could be postponed further. After spitting venom against each other in the run-up to the Telangana State formation, a rare camaraderie was on display between the staff of AP, who were shifting to Vijayawada, and their Telangana colleagues, as many women employees were teary-eyed while men hugged each other, bidding goodbye. “We may be going there now, but we will come back to Hyderabad after retirement as we have our home, near and dear ones here,” a senior officer of I&PR Department said from Vijayawada.
Overwhelming response
The obsession of the Telangana government with June 2, 2014, the day when the Telangana State came into being, seems to be unending.
After fixing that date for many a programme like scholarships for students and pay hike for staff, the government has of late retained it for free registration of unregistered sale deeds of land. There was a huge response to the offer related to “sada bainama” as the papers were called. About 11 lakh applications were received by the Revenue Department through Mee Seva centres, including over 3 lakh from Warangal district, nearly 2.5 lakh from Karimnagar, over 2 lakh from Khammam and about 1.5 lakh from Nalgonda. It will be a herculean task for the officials now to check the antecedents of the lands.
The ‘power’ that
let them down
An IAS officer, who is one of the many civil servants calling the shots in the Andhra Pradesh capital region, is said to be not properly receiving employees who are shifting to Amaravati.
A government officer, who has put in more than 25 years of service, was waiting for the IAS officer’s approval for taking charge in his place of posting in Krishna district upon transfer from Hyderabad, but the file would not move.
It is because of the superiority complex of the bureaucrat, who put some uncomfortable questions to the new officer, doubting his “intentions behind shifting” to the capital city.
It was only a threat of complaint that made the officer realise that he cannot treat employees like that even if he is an all-powerful man in the thick of administration.
Things got finally moving for the transferred officer.
There are hushed conversations that the IAS officer is one of the “privileged invitees” to have had lunch with the Chief Minister at his residence recently, and he has since started looking down on employees.
Strategy to attract media attention
Getting the media to pay attention to an individual or an organisation can be a daunting task. But there are people who bring into play winning strategies to have their way.
It so happened the other day that a little-known women’s organisation from Gollapudi sent SMSs to reporters of all local newspapers and channels saying members of the committee probing the infamous call money scam, a few women organisations, and victims of the scandal are meeting the City Police Commissioner.
The message had reporters scurrying to the Commissioner’s office only to find a handful of women standing outside the main gate.
It turned out that they were individuals seeking media attention to highlight their individual case of money-borrowing turning a bitter experience.
– Reporting by B. Chandrashekhar, V. Raghavendra and
P. Sujatha Varma
