The welcome showers in the capital and elsewhere on Sunday might have come as a relief to denizens, but what the government did to make its officials to go to the aid of people suffering from extreme heat and inadequate water supply remained a mystery.
That was till Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan got into the act. He sought and got a detailed response from the administration about what was done to provide much-needed assistance to people, especially those in rural areas, as the heat wave conditions continue in the entire State.
This meeting seemed to have taken place after a BJP delegation under its new State president K. Laxman represented to the Governor to take immediate steps to come to the aid of people. The elder statesman intervened as he did when he went round the Gandhi Hospital before the government machinery rushed to initiate some remedial measures at the hospital few months ago.
Educational bonanza for SC/ST students
On April 14 (Thursday) as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s last words — educate, agitate and organise — reverberated in Hyderabad, a promise made by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao brought meaning to the celebrations. On the 125{+t}{+h}birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar, the SC, ST and minority students in Telangana got a long-awaited education bonanza with Mr. Rao announcing 250 new residential schools and colleges for these sections.
The follow-up work by bureaucrats led to the identification of 10,000 teaching and non-teaching jobs, an estimated 1.50 lakh seats for students at the rate of 600 seats per institution and budget of Rs. 23 crore per institution.
While this could have remained a sop, what surprised many was the pace with which files moved post April 14. The CMO sought proposals from the departments concerned on Friday and the files were ready on Saturday. What’s more? The files are already with Mr. Rao and he is expected to issue orders in a day or two.
One-stop payment for vehicle owners
The road transport offices in Telangana will become cashless entities from April 21 as the government has decided to entrust all cash transactions on purchase of vehicles to dealers. There are two reasons for this: the Anti-Corruption Bureau detected more cash at counters in the offices than the value of transactions during its inspections and, second, separate cash remittances for purchase of vehicles were to be made to dealers and RTOs for various heads.
At least 30 per cent of transactions at RTOs pertain to registration of vehicles, both old and second-hand ones. Senior officials are of the view that registrations are being used by touts to make a fast buck by facilitating transactions. Therefore, convenience of owners and steps to check corruption weighed in the last decision.
Worth the effort, as it is time-saving for visitors to RTOs!
After pay rise, it’s accommodation
On the heels of a hefty pay packet given to MLAs by the legislation, they will now get office-cum-residential accommodation in their respective constituencies. The government has ordered for tenders for the construction of buildings over 500 to 600 sq yards with a built up area of 2,100 to 2,200 sq ft on each floor. There will be two floors in each building.
All this is fine but the scheme has met with resistance from MLAs in some districts as they were not happy with the identification of land in terms of ‘vastu’ and accessibility to public. Pending finalisation of the sites by the month-end, the government has asked the Roads & Buildings Department to complete the tender process.
Abrupt postponement of meeting
About 1,400 Section Officers and Assistant Section Officers of the Secretariat who were waiting with baited breath to know the outcome of a meeting of the Kamalanathan Committee on their division between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments were in for a shock last week when the panel abruptly postponed the proceedings shortly after the commencement.
The Andhra Pradesh Secretariat Staff Association alleged that the committee was not happy with its members going to the meeting hall. But, there was more to it. The Telangana government sought the postponement of the process of division as several officers of Telangana working with the AP government on ‘order to serve’ basis were due for repatriation. It’s another controversial matter that cropped up shortly after a stay given by the administrative tribunal on the seniority list of officers was lifted.
