It is almost two months since the bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh but the two State secretariats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are yet to settle down in the proper sense of the term.
While the final apportionment of All India Service officers has still not happened, the Telangana Secretariat functions with mere 44 IAS officers, who were provisionally allotted to the State on June 2 while the rest of the IAS officers are deemed to be under the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.
While shortage of officers is the problem in the Telangana Secretariat with each IAS officer handling three to four departments, the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat is grappling with shortage of space and things are still in disarray.
Added to this the suspense over the AIS officers allocation to the either of the State seem to have put some IAS officers in a listless frame of mind. “AIS officers have to serve in whichever State they are posted or allotted to. But had the final allocation been done prior to the appointed day as it happened in the division of three States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, it would have helped the bureaucracy to function with more focus,” senior officials admitted.
‘Routine work’
“We are just pushing the files and doing routine work. For the officers to put their heart and soul into long-term planning and focus, clarity over final allocation to either of the States is a must. Unfortunately the wait has been quite long,” a senior bureaucrat said.
The Pratyush Sinha Committee, which gathered views of AIS officers associations, could submit its report only on May 15, a day before announcement of the election results and the outgoing Prime Minister demitted office without clearing them leaving it to his successor.
A senior GAD official said: “AIS officers as per their service rules are prepared to work wherever the Centre posts them. All they want is clarity at the earliest when both the States are dealing with sensitive bifurcation issues,” he said.
The only finality till now was about cadre posts allocation to both the States, with 211 IAS officers allotted to Andhra Pradesh and 163 to Telangana. “ We expect the approval of guidelines for distribution of AIS officers by August 15. Hopefully by August end or September first week, the final apportionment of AIS officers would be done,” sources said.
