V. V. Balakrishna Journalist

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Zero Week' for Govt Staff from May 25

For the first time, the administration in Andhra Pradesh will come to a grinding halt for a week from May 25 to May 31. This week is being called by officials as “zero week”. No policy matters will be handled, and no payments, including TA & DA, will be made during this period. The week will be left to the employees to pack up and leave their present offices and move to new office rooms on the same Secretariat premises. Employees will shift their belongings, including furniture, computers, hard discs and files. The staff will take their pay for the month of May on May 24 itself. Employees allocated to Seemandhra will move from their present office rooms to new offices and the Telangana employees will vacate rooms in J, K, L and H blocks and go to A, B, C and D. IAS officers will be allocated to both AP and Telangana by May 28. After the “zero week”, the staff will take a day’s break on June 1 and will work for their respective states from June 2. Meanwhile, the government sought waiver of Central loans up to `17,000 crore released earlier to avoid the problem of distributing them between the two States.

Merger of Depts Proposed to Overcome Shortage of Secys

By Express News Service - HYDERABAD

Published: 05th May 2014 08:53 AM

Last Updated: 05th May 2014 08:53 AM

Revenue and Planning departments may be merged with the Finance department. As a part of the State’s reorganisation work, the Reforms and Restructure Committee suggested that there is no use continuing the Revenue and Planning departments separately. They can be merged with the Finance department, officials suggested. There are currently 36 departments in the combined Andhra Pradesh. But, after the division of the State, both Telangana and AP will face shortage of HoDs and secretaries. That was the reason for the Reforms and Restructuring Committee has suggested pruning of departments. Andhra Pradesh government can have a maximum of 27 ministers and the Telangana government can have a maximum of 18 ministers. This is based on the strength of the Assemblies of Telangana and AP. There are 119 MLAs in Telangana and 175 MLAs in AP. As per norms, the total ministers in the Cabinet should not cross 15 per cent of the Assembly strength. Keeping these issues in mind, the chief secretary constituted the Reforms Committee to prune the departments. Sources in the Finance department said there were no separate departments for Revenue and Planning in most of the states in the country. “Revenue collection, planning and spending is a combined work. That is why we have suggested merger of Revenue and Planning with Finance,” an official said. Likewise, there are wings which will have no work at all. Rain Shadow Area, Godavari Valley Development Authority and others are almost defunct. If such wings are closed or merged with related departments, the government could save IAS workforce. Horticulture, dairy development and other wings may be merged with the Agriculture department. The proposal is to reduce the number of departments from the present 36 to 29. Ports Authority is not required for Telangana state; so it could save one HoD on this count. If the Revenue and Planning departments are merged with Finance, it could save three IAS officers. As it is, there are five IAS officers in the Finance department alone.

Sunday, 4 May 2014

Two States Rejig to be Ready By May 25

Express News Service
Hyderabad, May 2:
   All arrangements will be in place for running the administration in both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at the most by May 25. One week from May 25 to May 31 will be considered as a transition period. June 1 is a holiday on account of Sunday and from June 2 onwards, the staff of Telangana and Andhra will function separately from the same Secretariat.
   The vehicles required to come to offices and the furniture to sit will be allocated. The files will be ready for the Staff. From June 2 onwards, ten districts of T and 13 districts of AP will function separately. As the Appointed Day is just 28 days more, the division work is going on a brisk pace.
   The President's rule in the State will come to an end by June 2. The new Chief Ministers of both Telangana and AP may assume offices after any day from June 2. This was because, the Chief Ministers may consider the auspicious days.
However, after May 16 and before June 2, the officials of the State government will be in touch with Chief Minister-designate of both the States on allocation of staff and other aspects of the bifurcation work. They will heed their advices. The officials are expecting that the new Prime Minister will assume office by May 17 or 18 and will give necessary orders for the division.
Official sources in Secretariat explained Express on how the Division work is going on:

STAFF TO BE ALLOCATED ON MAY 25: Around 56,000 state-cadre employees will be allocated between the two successor states by May 25. One week from May 25 to 31 will be considered as a transition period for transfer of files and staff to occupy their seats. Provisional allocation of posts to all secretariat departments from Additional Secretary to last grade employees will be made by May 25.
FILES ARE READY: Of the 36.80 lakh files from April 2008, 10.5 lakh files are common for both the states. The remaining 13.5 lakh files belongs to T and 12.8 lakh files belongs to AP. Of the common files of 10.5 lakh files, 2.5 lakh are current files and 8 lakh files are old files. These will be scanned and they come around 5 crore pages. Now, 626 scanners are functioning daily in various departments and they are scanning around 25 to 30 lakh pages a day. The filing copying will be completed by May 20.

VEHICLES: There are 23,000 vehicles in Hyderabad which will be allocated to both Telangana and AP. Log books and service records are readied for the vehicles.
Assets: Of the 55,000 premises of fixes assets in the combined state are allocated. In secretariat, the T government will get A, B, C and D blocks. The AP government will get the remaining five blocks. New gate for T -CM is under construction.

PENSIONERS: The pensioners will get thier pensions as usual. Even if an employee, a native of Seemandhra retired in Telangana, he will get his pension in T-only. If a T employee retired in AP, he will get his pension in AP. Now, there are 3.4 lakh pensioners in 13 districts of Seemandhra. There are 2.39 lakh pensioners in ten districts of Telangana, which included 92,000 pensioners in Hyderabad. T-government has to pay Rs 506 crore per month and the AP government has to pay Rs 706 crore per month. The number of pensioners are now in the ratio of 41.25 per cent in T and 58.75 per cent in Seemandhra. There are less pensioners in T as against the population ratio of 42:58. So, the officers decided to pay pensions in future where they are getting now.

MASTER GO ISSUED: Chief Secretary PK Mohanty issued a "master GO" directing various departments to issue separate GOs for the division of the State as per the AP Reorganisation Act. He issued Standard Operating Procedure in the GO. For example, The R and B department will issue GO allocating office, Legislature and residential buildings between the States of Telangana and AP by May 5.
Tthe Energy department has to issue a GO by May 10 transferring 51 per cent equity of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) to government of Telangana. Another GO issuing a notification of reassigning Ananthapur and Kurnool districts from CPDCL to SPDCL has to be issued by May 10. The Chief Secretary directed the departments to issue GOs or notifications with regard to 40 such tasks. All will be completed by the end of May.

ends

200 Khammam Villages to be Transferred to AP after May 7

After the second phase of polling in Seemandhra on May 7, the Central government may merge around 200 villages of Khammam district with residuary Andhra Pradesh.
Sources in the irrigation department said the Centre may not wait till the Appointed Day, but come out with an ordinance after May 7, before the Appointed Day.
After the Appointed Day, the Centre has to draft a bill for the merger of the villages and it has to be sent to both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments. After the Appointed Day, Article 3 of the Constitution will come into the picture for transferring villages from one state to another.
“Telangana government may raise objections to the transfer, post-Appointed Day. So, the Centre will come out with an ordinance before that,” the sources said.
Sources also pointed out that transfer of some villages from one district to another district in the combined state may not be a problem and even the Governor could do it by giving necessary orders. Till the Appointed Day, the State is one unit, sources pointed out.
It may be recalled that after the AP Reorganisation Act was passed, the Centre suddenly tried to bring an ordinance for the transfer of villages from Khammam to residuary AP.
“The file relating to transfer of villages has been circulated in Delhi,” sources said.
The Centre did not take any decision as the Election Code was in force. The Centre also thought transferring of villages would cause problems in conducting the elections. The electorate in Khammam villages would face problems in casting votes. So, the Centre waited all these days. Once, the elections in Seemandhra are over, the Centre may transfer the villages,” sources said.
Polavaram Problems
Meanwhile, sources in the irrigation department felt it was not easy to construct the Polavaram project, even if 200 villages are transferred from Telangana to Andhra. The Centre has decided to float an SPV to construct the project and bear the entire cost. It will also finalise the tenders.
“But, already the state government entrusted Rs 4,000 crore worth work to Transtroy company and the works had commenced. The question is will the Centre continue with the same company or drop it,” the sources said. If the Centre decides to cancel the Transtroy contract, it has to pay damages to the company. If the contract is cancelled who will pay for the work already done--Centre or State?
Madhucon company, which failed to get the contract, already approached the court for damages. Will the Centre pay the damages or pass the burden on to the State? Such issues would pose a problem for the construction of Polavaram, besides objections being raised by the Telangana government.

Chief Secy's of Telangana, AP to Live in Kundanbagh

The official residences of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh chief secretaries will be located in Kundanbagh. The Telangana chief secretary’s residence will be No 4, Kundanbagh and the official residence of Andhra Pradesh chief secretary will be No 10, Kundanbagh. The new chief secretaries for both the states will be appointed on the Appointed Day on June 2.
The State government on Thursday issued two separate GOs earmarking the quarters as official residences of both the chief secretaries. In the orders, chief secretary PK Mohanty stated that the executive engineer (R&B), Central Buildings Division, Hyderabad, shall hand over possession of government buildings No. 10 and No. 4 in Kundanbagh to the private secretary of the chief secretary and the estate officer, Hyderabad, shall place the said buildings at the disposal of the authorities concerned.
The orders said, “The Appointed Day for the two states to come into existence is fixed as June 2. Therefore the administrative machinery of two states shall start functioning from the said date.” It may be recalled that chief secretary PK Mohanty has already sent a letter to Governor ESL Narasimhan that he would not continue in the post after June 2.

Suggestions Invited on New Capital for AP

The ministry of home affairs sought feedback from the people and other organisations on creating a new capital for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh.
‘‘Any suggestions which are specific to the issues mentioned in the terms of reference of the committee that any member of public or any organisation would like to give to the committee may be communicated by e-mail to: feedback.expcomt@mha.gov.in. The last date for receipt of suggestions is April 30,” said a MHA notice.
It may be recalled that the Centre has constituted an expert committee to study the various alternatives regarding the new capital for residuary Andhra Pradesh and make appropriate recommendations.
The terms of reference of the committee are: To study various alternatives for locating the new capital of AP and evaluate their comparative suitability based on available data, site visits and consultations with the stakeholders, Central government and the existing government of Andhra Pradesh and the successor State of AP and submit its report before August 31.
The committee will also look into the matters like availability of sufficient land, water and other essential natural resources with due regard to the possibility of dereservation of degraded forest land.

b.suri babu from Visakhapatnam

capital;visakhapathanam,best city

sandilya from Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is the best capital for AP.

RAJESH.RAYUDU

To Central Home minister department, Government of India, C/O K.S. Siva Rama Krishna n Committee. Respected, I Rayudu.Rajesh of age 28 and Residence of Vijayawada city in Andhra Pradesh{Semandhra} giving self-opinion about the upcoming New Capital for the remaining Andhra Pradesh after Di vision, Which could be around through the combination of 2 Big Cities which are apart-ed by just 25Kilometers, so, That is Vijayawada-Guntur Cities Combination would be made as the capital for the Sema-Andhra. The Advantages could be -- 1st: Development & literacy have been already done by now at about 50% area 2nd: Both cities are having a vast area & land for further development 3rd: There are lot more Business happened in these 2 areas as twin Cities 4th: The vijayawada Airport is just a Domestic Airport as at least 2-4 Flights are running daily for here; and soon. So finally I suggest The Andhra Pradesh Capital would be done from this krishna & guntur districts as because this area has vast space for developing Infrastructures & Improvement & also Government Properties, etcetera. thank you very much, yours sincerely, Rayudu.Rajesh Andhra Pradesh

Ks narayan from Noida

I suggest eluru or vijayawada for our capital

srinivas from Vijayawada

Vijayawada is the best city for capital of A.P.because transport, airport and middle of the Andhra Pradesh

Ramakrishna

Guntur is the suitable place for new Capital for Andhra Pradesh. guntur and Vijayawada as a twin cities bcse that is the correct place to us and devolop of our AP people. And there is much more transport facilities and water faculty.

A.VIJAY from Bhimavaram

I suggest the place in between eluru and junction

pavan from Taipei

Rajahmundry

Nagendra prasad

The Ideal location for new capital location is either at east godavari between rajahmundry and kakinada or between Tadepaligudem and Jangareddigudem where plenty of water resources, government land and natural resources are available. Further they are nearer to railway junction and national highway connectivity with nearest airport facility. There is vast scope of development without disturbing the nearby residential locations or agriculture lands. The new High court should be located in three regions with three benches at visakhapatnam, Guntur and thirupathi with principal bench at Guntur. Theese are the disadvantages for other cities to locate the capital Tirupathi -it will become crowdy with regular pilgrims Vijayawada it will become bottle neck with heavy vehicular traffic Ongole : prone to regular cyclones and water and climatic problems Visakhapatnam: It is remote access to other end of the state like kurnool. As it is already developed city. Cost of land and high density of population are hurdles to locate the capital.

T.muralikrishna from Vijayawada

i wnt to see guntur and vizayawada asa twin cities bcse that is the correct place to us and devolop of our ap people.

tirumala

visakhapatnam must be our capital

tirumala

visakhapatnam capital

Jagadish Power from New Delhi

Visakhapatnam is the suitable place for new Capital for Andhra Pradesh, all the environments is existed in and around the Visakhapatnam regarding More land for buildings, no water scarcity, good and pleasure temperature, and connected all the stations including Air ports, Naval ports, Railway stations and Bus Stations and more companies may be preferred to established for using of natural resources and prefer belly officers is suited /optioned to live in the surrounding in the place of Visakhapatnam, more people including foreigners to come interest for visiting wanted to see the locations of Visakhapatnam

Jagadish Power from New Delhi

Visakhapatnam is the suitable place for new Capital for Andhra Pradesh, all the environments is existed in and around the Visakhapatnam regarding More land for buildings, no water scarcity, good and pleasure temperature, and connected all the stations including Air ports, Naval ports, Railway stations and Bus Stations and more companies may be preferred to established for using of natural resources and prefer belly officers is suited /optioned to live in the surrounding in the place of Visakhapatnam, more people including foreigners to come interest for visiting wanted to see the locations of Visakhapatnam

Jagadish Power from New Delhi

In my opinion Visakhapatnam is best place to AP new capital among all other places.

vemu. peraiah from Delhi

ongole is best area for new capital of Andhra pradesh

vemu. peraiah from Delhi

ongole is the best city for new capital of Andhra pradesh, have a lot of Govt land for constructions of buildings and pollution less environmental and middle of the seemandhra have Delhi to Chennai rail way line near by coastal of bay of bengal and NH-5 national high way, addanki nakerikal high way easy journey to Hyderabad.

Rama rao.Veeraghattam

for kind information please.

Rama rao.Veeraghattam

I suggest two capitals like Jammu and Kasmir. One capital will be at Visakhapatnam and 2nd will be at Kurnool. Because Visakhapatnam is well connected to Rail, Sea and Air links. Also having two major ports, good infrastructure and also well connected to Uttarandhra people and also peaceful city. For Kurnol, once upon a time it was a capital city and also belongs to Rayala seema. Like this if we can form two capitals, both regions seemandhra and Rayalaseema can be developed.

venu from Kakinada

I m happy,the central govt has gave us the opportunity to suggest a capital in our AP before the announcement by the respected committee which was already decided by the international mafia and national political mafia. It is only to create a district wise differences in AP.Any how I suggest to construct two capitals like j&k.1) Devipatnam, Rampachodavaram in Egdt,and forest area in vizag.2)Anantapuram .By selecting these two areas we can get so many benefits.and we can avoid heavy distructive cyclones in coming future.It gives bulky heavy job opportunities in various fields like defoerstation,transporting various valuable ores,wood,jems and stones.and also in transpotrting the people to the two different distant places(who dont know the correct place they have to go to solve their problem)There may be a costal high way (like ECR from chenni to pondy.)from srikakulam to anantapuram via tirupathy.One more thing i have to say : there is no time bar ,there is no garrenty to the flow of funds even though there is funds flow ther may be the garrenty to the progress.Because if there is no stable govt in centre the funds goes to tamilnadu ,the trains goes to bengal, industries goes to mumbai ,black money goes to swiss.Even though there is stable govt in centre there would be no development because now the contesting candidates are buying voters for Rs 12000/-per each voter.How can we expect development when the people are trapped into the liquor,drugs,edn mafia and religion.

sunil Raju at HSBC HDPI GSC Vizag from Visakhapatnam

visakhapatnam is the best capital for seemandra. because we have so many in Visakhapatnam (international airport, naval dockyard, port, hpcl, bhpv, bhel, few I.T companies, industries, infrastructure companies, pharmacy compaines, rails attaches to all stations, NH roads attaches to all stations, film studio, multi hospitals, so many colleges, schools, andhra university, andhra medical college, international cricket stadium, indore stadium real eststes, lands etc..... so visakhapatnam is the best best seemandra(andhrapradesh) capital

sunil raju from Visakhapatnam

visakhapatnam is the best capital for seemandra. because we have so many in Visakhapatnam (international airport, naval dockyard, port, hpcl, bhpv, bhel, few I.T companies, industries, infrastructure companies, pharmacy compaines, rails attaches to all stations, NH roads attaches to all stations, film studio, multi hospitals, so many colleges, schools, andhra university, andhra medical college, international cricket stadium, indore stadium real eststes, lands etc..... so visakhapatnam is the best best seemandra(andhrapradesh) capital

Suhail Dil Advocate, Farmer's friend, Human rights activist, author, social worker, co-operator, Eco campaigner

Tirupati has a strategic advantage to deliver for the state a new and vibrant capital city. It is not only the abode of lord venkateshwara but is a destination on the global map. Tirupathi needs no introduction, Access to 2 major IT giants chennai and bangalore will lend the desired level of development and progress to the state. Its been a tourist centre for ages and is not only famous all over india but is a recognized destination on the global Map.

T.LEENA

VISHAKHAPATNAM Is the right place The one and only meaning less argument highlighting the by others is the corner place, which is not at all issue, as the city is having all kinds transport facilities. If, we considered the India's Top 5 major metropolitan cities are the Capitals to their respective States are the corner places. So, Visakhapatnam is the best choice

T.LEENA

capita:Visakhapatnam Out of 13districts in Andhra pradesh visakhapatnam districts, is in a fast development area,because more than 25 lakhs populations,in GVMC, Wider area number of villages are more. No question of center point for capital,More facilities where availble,there should be fix capital,even nook and corner. FACILITIES:- International airport,Naval dock yard,port trust,HPCL,BHEL,Steel plant,Pharmacity(medical),Tourisim,Bay of bangal ,Multi super spacility hospitals,water facility,Film studios,I.T.(Software),Divisional Railways,National high ways roads,International cricket stadium(sports),Educational univercity,, we considered the India's Top 5 major metropolitan cities are the Capitals to their respective and more lands availble. Fix capital visakhapatnam and no other city in Andhrapradesh.

Pingali from Chennai

If one argues that capital city should be at a central place then we have to shift India's capital from New Delhi to some other place near Nagpur, still then it will be far away to Guwahathy or Aizwal. Where is Chennai for Tamil Nadu, Mumbai for Maharashtra, Thiruvananthapuram for Kerala, Kolkata for West Bengal ? Are these cities at a central place in these States. Hence one should not say that Visakha will be at a corner place. Instead of putting all our resources from scratch to create a capital in a place like Donakonda, we can make partly developed city like Visakha as new Capital to residuary Andhra Pradesh. Saner sense should prevail.

Mohan from Melbourne

The region west of Vijayawada across the river is best. It is centrally located between all regions and is connected by rail and road to all regions. However, it will be advisable to locate only the political capital. The High Court, staff training centres and head office of public sector undertakings can be located at Kurnool and Tirupati.

sachin from Nellore

i wnt to see guntur and vizayawada asa twin cities bcse that is the correct place to us and devolop of our ap people.

MOHAN from Coimbatore

I think Bibinagar on Warangal highway which is 35 Kms from Secunderabad would be ideal. This area has a lot of vacant land which could be developed in line with Chandigarh. Also the twin city of Hyd and secunderabad could become the 'Tri-City'. mohan

yuvakumar

ongole

State Govt Likely to Scrap Titanium Mining Lease

The state government is all set to cancel the titanium mining lease with Bothli Trade AG, signed in 2006. Cancellation of the lease was under the active consideration of the state government. However, the agreement has not been annulled as yet. It is only on the paper.
It may be recalled that Congress Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao was indicted by the US Justice Department for allegedly participating in an international racketeering conspiracy involving at least Rs 111 crore in bribes to state and Central government officials to allow mining of titanium in the state.
The US has requested the Centre for ‘provisional arrest’ of Ramachandra Rao.
Governor’s advisor AN Roy, who is holding law and order and mines portfolios, indicated that the titanium lease may be scrapped. Asked about cancellation of the lease, Roy said: ‘’Why not.’’
‘’Several mining leases were cancelled in the past. Even coal leases were cancelled. So why not titanium deal? However, I did not go into the file related to the deal. Action will be taken after going through the related file,’’ Roy told Express.
He further said that several files have been pending due to agitations in the state earlier. ‘’I am clearing the files of routine nature like court cases, promotions and other normal files. I cannot take policy decisions, but clearing files on a day-to-day basis. I will leave office only after I have cleared all the files,’’ he said.
‘’I have some views and ideas on several matters including health. I will throw the ideas open to people and seek their opinions. I am also discussing it with officials,” the governor’s advisor said.