A senior IAS officer in Secretariat is leading by example by installing a sophisticated camera in his office chamber without any instructions from his higher ups. The camera which is fitted to the wall right behind the seat of Principal Secretary of Medical and Health Suresh Chanda has an Internet protocol and captures the images and conversation in the entire room. Mr. Chanda can view on his cell phone what is going on in the room even in his absence.
The bureaucrat has attributed the motive to promote transparency in medical and health department and chose to initiate the process himself. He is right because the department was most condemned a few months ago on charges of corruption, leading to the sacking of Deputy Chief Minister and Medical and Health Minister T. Rajaiah. The ACB also carried out raids on the premises of an official who headed family welfare wing.
Demand for sending back AP officials
The demand to send back officials of Andhra Pradesh origin from government service in Telangana which was confined to portals of Secretariat till recently has now spilled over to establishments outside.
Last week saw officers associations of at least three departments – Excise, Transport and Labour – representing to Ministers, and C.R. Kamalanathan, who is heading the committee, to bifurcate State-level posts that there was no way but to relieve people from Andhra Pradesh of duties at their work places. A protest was also staged at the Commissionerate of Labour against the posting of a woman officer of the rank of Deputy Director.
The Telangana Group I Officers Association headed by M. Chandrasekhar Goud has been demanding for long that the division of officers should be done based on their nativity to avoid bad blood. In such a scenario, the bifurcation of State-level posts is likely to get murkier in the coming days.
Two supernumerary posts in R.R. district
There is no end to the problems thrown up by bifurcation of the State. The Telangana government had to create two supernumerary posts just to accommodate two of its officers who are transferred back from Andhra Pradesh. This is for the first time in several decades that such an extreme step is taken.
The Department of Industries in Telangana did not have posts to accommodate two Assistant Directors working in Andhra Pradesh whose transfer was strongly demanded by officers associations of the former State. So, the government created two supernumerary posts in Ranga Reddy district bowing to pressure. Ironically, the government order says that once two assistant director posts fall vacant in course of time, the newly created positions will cease to exist.
Uncertainty dogs health cards
The State government employees are a confused lot over the fate of health cards issued to them. Although the government launched the scheme with a lot of fanfare, corporate hospitals have expressed their inability to treat patients at the rates fixed by the government. Till now, no reports about consensus between them have emerged.
Adding to their worry is the hike in the premium of life insurance to be deducted from their salaries from July following implementation of pay revision commission recommendations. The State Government has hiked the salaries by around 100 per cent to its employees as compared to 2010.
Reporting by N. Rahul,
B. Chandrashekhar,
J.S. Ifthekhar, &
Asif Yar Khan