Divided Staff Cripples State Administration. Governance has come to a grinding halt in Andhra Pradesh as massive protests over the formation of separate Telangana has taken precedence over official work and the growing unease has only fuelled fears of further chaos and anarchy in regions across the state.
While protests in Seemandhra region continue to cripple essential services and affect daily life, the Secretariat in Hyderabad, the seat of administration, is largely empty, with chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and his council of ministers staying away from office for a week now.
Kiran Reddy, who was in favour of a unified Andhra Pradesh, spent just an hour in his office on August 1, and is learnt to be meeting representatives from the Telangana and Seemandhra region at the camp office, and at home during the day.
Paralysing work in government departments, employees sharply divided along regional lines are reportedly not moving key files, which commentators say could lead to virtual collapse of the administration.
“The chief minister and his cabinet are not attending duties along with Seemandhra employees, while Telangana employees are engaged in celebrations. In the melee, the common people are suffering and there don’t seem to be any governance in the state,” Julakanti Ranga Reddy, MLA, CPM floor leader in the Assembly told INN.
Nearly 3,000 employees belonging to Seemandhra region have been boycotting duties from August 3 at the Secretariat, even as dozens of files are piling up on their desks. “This is the first time that the state government is faced with such a critical situation. The chaos, if not arrested immediately, will lead to a huge crisis,” an analyst said, as news of regular street protests paralysing movement of goods vehicles, hitting healthcare, courts and agriculture sector, kept pouring in.
Thousands of files are pending clearance with employees not sending files to their counterparts from other region, fearing rejection of their recommendations.
Launching a scathing attack on chief minister and the state police chief for ‘instigating’ violence in Seemandhra, panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy warned that entire Telangana would erupt in violent protests if attempts were made to derail the statehood process. “The CM and the DGP are the investigative authority. But, instead of investigating, if they start instigating, they will have to face consequences,” said Jana Reddy. Reacting to some reports alleging that chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and director general of police Dinesh Reddy were not only doing little to quell the violence in Seemandhra, but fuelling it, Jana Reddy said attempts to derail the new state must be stopped. Reddy also attacked PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana for his ‘anti-Telangana’ stance.
The education sector is in the doldrums with several issues, including decision on capitation fee, tuition fee, scholarships, fee reimbursement, which were supposed to be taken up by the government, pushed to the backburner. Ministers S Sailajanath and K Parthasarathi, who look after the education ministry, are actively involved in Seemandhra protests now.
Two months after the declaration of Eamcet results, the government has not begun counselling for admission into engineering colleges, affecting over three lakh students, officials said. The entire process is now caught in a legal wrangle with no senior official available to take up the issue. Law minister E Pratap Reddy, who is supposed to expedite the matter, is busy supporting protests organized by Seemandhra activists.
In the agriculture sector, cultivation in more than 52 lakh hectares for the kharif season is likely to be hit badly, as the government is yet to distribute seed and fertilizer among farmers as agriculture minister Kanna Laxminarayana is busy spearheading a movement for united Andhra and his staff staying away from work.
Implementation of welfare schemes, including the fledgling Amma Hastam, Indiramma Kalalu and Bangaru Talli are facing teething troubles, and going by the current developments, public may have to wait for a long time to receive any benefits from the schemes.
“There is nobody to hear and resolve their grievances as the entire cabinet is engaged in a regional war,” a senior official said requesting anonymity.
More than 10 lakh state government employees and pensioners are waiting for the pay revision commission, which is not likely to happen soon, one official said. “Dozens of departmental promotion committee meetings were cancelled after the announcement on Telangana. Promotions to assistant secretaries and deputy secretaries have been put on hold in the backdrop of the present crisis,” said a senior IAS officer.
The public health department has been severely affected with 5,000 junior doctors staying off work over a mandatory rural stint, while recruitment of 2,000 doctors are on hold across the state.
The Aadhaar cards deadline too is nearing, but there has been no word from the government on this issue either.
In the Seemandhra region, government offices have been shut down for the last six days. Essential certificates such as income, caste, birth and death certificates are not being issued. In some coastal towns even banks are not functioning.
