V. V. Balakrishna Journalist

Saturday, 29 March 2014

Expert Panel Formed to Find a Capital for AP

The Centre on Friday appointed a five-member multi-disciplinary panel to select a new capital for the successor State of Andhra Pradesh.
The committee, headed by former secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, KC Shivaramakrishnan will have Aromar Revi, Prof Jagan Shah, KT Ravindran and Dr Rathin Roy as members. The group will travel extensively in Seemandhra and make appropriate recommendations in six months. The letter, appointing the panel, says it needs to find a suitable place for the new capital while looking at various issues like connectivity, environment etc.
A member of the panel, on condition of anonymity, told Express that the letter is not clear on when the work needs to be commenced. “The issue is not only to find a capital but also to build a city which requires consultations on various issues. We will have a panel meeting first and discuss the issues at length. We will also work out modalities in the meeting,” he said.
Shivaramakrishnan retired from IAS in 1992 and later, joined the World Bank as a senior advisor, Urban Management. He has authored several books and papers on urban management.
Aromar Revi is the Director of the Bangalore-based Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) which is the first prospective National University for Research and Innovation to address challenges of urbanisation. An alumnus of IIT-Delhi, Revi has been a senior advisor to various ministries of the Government of India.
KT Ravindran was former head of urban design at the School of Planning and Architecture of New Delhi. Prof Ravindran was also nominated as member of the UN Capital Master Plan to advise on UN project in New York.
However, sources in the Raj Bhavan said they were yet to receive a communication on the appointment of the panel. “Though the appointment is confirmed, orders are yet to be issued,” official sources said.
The Centre also appointed former chief secretary of Rajasthan Salauddin Ahmed and former DGP of Maharashtra Anami Narayan Roy as advisers to Governor ESL Narasimhan. Raj Bhavan sources confirmed the appointments.
Salauddin Ahmed is a 1975-batch IAS officer and worked in different capacities in Rajasthan. He was appointed chief secretary of Rajasthan in 2010 and retired in 2012. He was the first Muslim chief secretary of Rajasthan. Ahmed also served as CMD of the Rajasthan Financial Corporation (RFC), principal secretary of literature, art and culture and CEO of the Amber Development and Management Authority (ADMA).
Ahmed is a native of Lucknow and joined the Rajasthan Government in July 1975. He served as sub-divisional officer of Kotputli in 1977-78 and as additional collector of Ajmer in 1980.
Anami Narayan Roy is a 1972-batch Maharashtra cadre IPS officer and retired as DGP of Maharashtra. Roy held most prestigious and challenging posts during his 38 years of service.
He was Mumbai police commissioner for almost three years and faced serious challenges. But, he was popular as “People’s Commissioner”. He started the Citizen Facilitation Centres for providing time-bound and transparent solutions.
Roy served as DGP for two terms. First, he was appointed on March 1, 2008. But, he had to step down in Feb 2009 after the Bombay high court termed his appointment arbitrary. Later, he was appointed again in January, 2010.
Roy was also chairman of the Vandana Foundation. The foundation works primarily for livelihood support for widows and families of farmers who committed suicide in the two districts of Vidarbha Yavatmal and Wardha in Maharashtra and the poorest of the poor in the slums of Mumbai.
Roy, ahmed made guv’s advisers
The Centre on Friday appointed ex-chief secretary of Rajasthan Salauddin Ahmed and former DGP of Maharashtra Anami Narayan Roy as advisers to Governor ESL Narasimhan.

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Baba from Gwalior

Where is environmental expert in the committee

Seemandhra Staff Seek Option, But T Staff Oppose

Telangana employees want all Seemandhra employees sent back to the new state of their nativity, Seemandhra employees, however, want options to be given to them to chose either Telangana or new Andhra Pradesh for service only after the capital for new AP state is decided.
This was the crux of the representations made by 16 associations of employees which met the Kamalnathan Committee at the Secretariat here on Friday.
The committee, before framing guidelines to share the 56,000-odd employees between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, elicited the views of employees’ associations. Besides CR Kamalnathan himself, joint secretary in the department of personnel and training (DoPT) Archana Varma was present at the meeting. The guidelines may be issued in a week.
Though ‘teacher’ is in the district post category, those appointed in the 20 per cent non-local quota in Telangana too want option to go to their native districts in AP. But Kamalnathan rejected their request saying that the committee would look into the allocation of state-cadre posts. He suggested to teachers and employees of state public sector undertaking to represent their case to the future governments which may take a political decision.
According to teachers’ unions, there are around 20,000 Seemandhra people working in Telangana and all of them were recruited under the 20 pc non-local quota. Likewise, around 500 Telangana teachers are working in Seemandhra.
T Employees’ Demands
Employees native to Telangana shall be allotted to Telangana. The rest shall be deemed to be allotted to the residuary AP.
If employees of residuary AP are more than the cadre strength fixed in a department, the excess number of employees may be utilised in the residuary AP for corporations/schemes/projects on deputation. They will not be allocated to Telangana.
Class-4 employees belonging to Telangana shall be allotted to only Telangana
Nativity shall be decided on the basis of verifiable academic records.
A large number of Seemandhras are still working in Telangana. Before taking up the exercise of distribution, all such identified employees should be first sent back to their native districts/zone. There not be option for any cadre post
Only T-employees should be allowed to work in T-state. Any vacant posts should be filled by promoting T-employees.
We will allow Seemandhra employees to work in Telangana Secretariat
There should be no option for employees belonging to either state. In case of excess staff in any state, supernumerary posts may be created to adjust them.
Seemandhra Staff’s Pleas
Only provisional options should be given till a new capital city for residuary AP is decided. If the new capital is near their district, the employees may opt to go there. Otherwise, they will remain in Hyderabad. Final option should be only after the capital is decided.
The presidential order enables inter-zonal transfer of local cadres. Such provision is not overridden nor taken away by the AP Reorganisation Act. Some state- level institutions like Lokayukta and RTI are not mentioned in the Act. The status and working conditions of employees in such institutions have to be clarified.
Employees appointed under non-local category by APPSC or by other methods of recruitment should not be disturbed.
The allocation of employees should be in the ratio of 58:42 based on population.
Children of employees shall be given option to choose a state, a the definition of local candidate will become a hurdle to those who will opt for AP since they studied in Telangana.
Number of posts in each category at Secretariat should be allocated between the two states based on
population.
Seemandhra teachers, recruited under non-local category and working in Telangana, should be allowed to go to their native districts.

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anonymous from Vijayawada

pillars of passage of ap reorganisation bill rested on the four cornor sandcement portor of peaceful coexistence of working staff by OPTIONS and not by PINDARI invadors and invasions of srt stunt masters, 2. the integrated tilting support of junk business party hungry for power share booties in 2014 elections ventured to bifurcate telguthalli by sacrificing royalaseema thalli to acult godesses, 3. agreed principle of live and let live all indians including sheemandhrs in hyderabad telenghana and their kith and kin including their unreliable investments 3. proper storage,maintenance of irrigation water required utilised by sheemandhras for last 60 years and maintenance of to and fro communications in indian union with telenghana and beyond telengana. still sheemandhras are in coma unbearable of the humiliation thrown on by their sons traitors like moonmoonbob, townshipqueen shupervermilioncinewastematineeidolsevenhills of mogalla oor, helapuri pillazamindar, badshaliquordon, bodam of gramsiumhalapuri, wealthghodess,powerbrokerwilliamthornhill, ghunturghonghuratractorkhontractor, vizaghsevenstarkchontractor, bongholeshinghapuram industrialist, khurnoolrailranakarodraja, kankanad baldhaircherakuraja, all these tycoons contributed to telghuthalli bifurcation. if telenghanites stick to sheemandhras ngos to go from hyderabad, almost it amounts to pindari northwestern frontier and aggression only inviting repealing of ap reorganisation act passed in political lif live telecastcut.

State to Centre: Correct Errors in AP Reorganisation Act

The state government is requesting the Central government to include the line ‘all the ongoing projects’ in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 as far as irrigation projects are concerned so that both Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh will benefit in the future.
The Reorganisation Act stated that ‘’the following irrigation projects which are under construction shall be completed as per the plan notified by the existing state of Andhra Pradesh and the water sharing arrangement shall continue as such - Handri Neeva, Telugu Ganga, Galeru Nagiri, Venegondu, Kalvakurthi and Nettempadu.”
But, the irrigation officials are wondering why the Centre specifically mentioned only six projects and did not include the other ongoing projects. ‘’The officials at the Central Water Commission too could not answer this question,’’ a top official told Express.
Now, the officials, through Governor, are dashing off a letter to the Centre to include the word ‘’all the ongoing irrigation projects’’ in the Act so that the underconstruction projects in both Telangana and Andhra would be completed.
The officials argue that if only six projects were mentioned in the Act, then there would be a problem in future in completing all the other ongoing projects. Because, the Central government, as per the Act, has to accord permission to complete the projects. The officials are wondering why there was no mention about other ongoing projects including AMRP (SLBC).
For including the word ‘all irrigation projects” in the Act, it did not require to amend the Act and need not go to the Parliament.
The officials are also seeking the Centre to make some typographical and printing errors in the Act. For example, the six ongoing projects mentioned in the Act has an error. The Veligodu project is mentioned in the Act as ‘Venegondu’.
Likewise, Section 87(1) in the Reorganisation Act too needs modification to render justice to Telangana region.
The section stated that the proposed Irrigation Boards will regulate canal network and transmission lines necessary to deliver water or power to the states concerned.
An officer said that if the Board manages even inter-state canals, then problems may arise in future. The entire jurisdiction of Nagarjuna Sagar Right canal will fall under residuary Andhra Pradesh. But, the NSP left canal will supply to Telangana and also to Krishna district. If the Centre managed the left canal and releases water to Seemandhra, then Telangana would suffer. So officials mooted modification to this section.
Another mistake in part two of the Act under the XI Schedule which directs to See section 85(7)(e): “Principles governing the functioning of the River Management Boards”. But, there was no section 85(7)(e) in the part one of the Act.
When the officials pointed out these mistakes, the Union home secretary wanted the state to identify all such errors in the Act.

‘Include Development of T Film Industry in Manifestos’

Telangana Cinema Chamber of Commerce (TCCC) at a meeting here on Tuesday has demanded that the manifestos of political parties in Telangana region should reflect the aspirations of the film industry of Telangana.
Telangana culture and language were insulted in several films produced by Seemandhra people till now. “We want to maintain the existence of Telangana culture in the film industry. The manifestos of parties should reflect the aspirations of the Telangana film industry,” TCCC secretary general Syed Rafi said.
He condemned the meeting of chairman and co-chairman of Telangana Congress manifesto committee D Sridhar Babu and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka with Seemandhra film industry representatives KS Ramarao and Burgupalli Sivarama Krishana recently. Rafi wondered whether the Congress manifesto committee was trying to keep the film industry at the feet of the Seemandhra people even after the creation of separate Telangana.
Whether the Congress leaders were endorsing the demands of Seemandhra film personalities to seek more benefits in Telangana and to keep their supremacy over the film industry, he asked. ‘’It is highly objectionable to discuss the Telangana film industry policy with Seemandhra persons,” he added.
He further said that it was ridiculous that the Telangana film industry was being dictated by the people from Seemandhra region. Their meeting was held to ensure that the dominance of Seemandhra in the industry continued even after the bifurcation and to safeguard their monopoly. It was also strange that they had demanded tax exemption to the theatres already owned or occupied by Seemandhra people, Rafi said.
The manifestos of parties should be drafted only to encourage the artistes, technicians and entrepreneurs from Telangana cinema industry but not to re-establish the dominance of Seemandhra people in T-state, Rafi said. ‘’We do not have any objection if Seemandhra cinema industry getting benefits from residuary Andhra Pradesh,” he added. “Trying to strangle the Telangana cinema industry with the name Telugu would result in severe consequences,” he warned.
Telangana Cinema Producers’ Council president Sana Yadireddy, Cinema Directors’ Association president Allani Sreedhar, Cinema Distributors’ Association president Uday Reddy, Cinema Exhibitors’ Association president Mallikarjuna Goud, and others were present.

Scanner Shortage Hits File Digitisation

Racing against time to complete the state’s division work, the babulog, after almost 21 days, have suddenly realised that they are short of scanning machines!
Tasked with scanning heaps of government files, the state administration has now, at this late hour, decided to place order for more heavy-duty scanners by inviting tenders to hire them. Placing of orders and getting new scanners will take some more time.
It may be recalled that chief secretary PK Mohanty has set April 30 as the deadline to complete the division work whereas governor ESL Narasimhan has directed the officials to complete all the work by May 15.
With almost 21 days of work completed, officials reviewed the progress of digitisation and photo-copying of government files on Tuesday and realised that the work was going on a slow pace.
They decided to place order for more scanning machines so that all the files will be scanned and uploaded to state government’s data centre.
“One department has five scanners now. Each scanner is able to scan around 5,000 pages a day and some departments are able to scan a small number of files,” said an officer. According to official sources, the number of pages to be copied runs into lakhs. “My department in the Secretariat has 2,700 files. It is a herculean task to take three copies of each file,” said a senior IAS officer.
According to sources, the panchayat raj department has more than 15,000 files and the revenue department around 16,000 files.
As per the decision taken at a review meeting held with the chief secretary on Tuesday, the officials will now hire heavy- duty scanners which can scan pages speedily.
The officials have to take three copies of each file: one for the archives, one for the section concerned and another for the respective head of the department.
On Tuesday, the officials decided to direct the AP Technology Services to place the order for more scanning machines.
CORPORATIONS
Meanwhile, the officials involved in the division work also started identifying the corporations and societies which are running in losses or not directly getting central government funds. Of the 80 corporations, only 32 will be continued. The remaining will be merged with their respective departments.
The central government changed the norms and is directly sending the money to the state government for AIDS Control Society, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Rajiv Vidya Mission and others. These were created only to get central funds. With the changed policy, these corporations could be merged with the parent departments, source said. Some corporations have become defunct and are running with only five to ten skeletal staff. Such corporations too be will be closed.
This would help to utilise the manpower, including AIS officers, in a judicious manner after the division of the state.
As per the present strength of the Assemblies, the Telangana or the new Andhra Pradesh can have only l8 and 27 ministers in the cabinets.
“If the departments or corporations are more in number, the ministers cannot handle them. The merger or closing of some departments or corporations will be made keeping in mind how many ministries/departments the the new states will have,” the sources said. At present, there are 37 departments and 185 heads of departments (HoDs). The number will decrease considerably, the sources said.

Settle All Key Issues by May 15: Governor

Governor ESL Narasimhan has directed officials to complete all formalities on all key issues of state’s reorganisation by May 15.
He asked the officials to complete the process well before June 2, the deadline fixed for formation of two new states and elected governments to be put in place.
The chief secretary and other senior officers made a detailed presentation to the governor at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday on the state reorganisation work. This included key issues, time lines and action plan being implemented by various departments.
Principal secretary (finance) PV Ramesh gave a presentation on the employee allocation issues, guidelines, state advisory committees, and all-India service officers’ allocation. All the employee allocation would be taken up strictly according to the guidelines by the state advisory committee, which will be constituted by the central government, the officials informed the governor. Ramesh presented details of financial assets allocation and how they are geared up for ensuring that both the successor states start functioning smoothly from the appointed day.
He also made a presentation about the activities which are common to all departments like copying of files and maintaining a record room, movable and fixed assets division, training institutions, laws and court cases, IT infrastructure management. The officials have said that all the files will be indexed and categorised and copies will be made available to both the governments.
It is also informed that all important files, records will be digitised and electronic copies readied for easy storage and retrieval. The governor advised the chief secretary and other senior officials to complete the entire work before May second week in a systematic, fair and transparent way. He emphasised that as far as the common man is concerned, all the services, which they were receiving now, should continue without any disruption. He also ordered to pay particular attention to the smooth functioning of the public distribution system, various pension payments and supply of seeds to the farming community.
Other important state reorganisation issues related to companies and corporations, training institutions, energy will be presented before the governor on Monday, said chief secretary PK Mohanty.

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Dept-wise Work Allocated to Five Senior Officials

Quickening the pace of state division work further, chief secretary PK Mohanty allocated department-wise work to five senior officials on Friday.
SP Tucker, special chief secretary (planning) who is given full additional charge of the post of principal secretary (GAD - state reorganisation), will be the overall in-charge of the activities related to the reorganisation of the state.
He will be responsible for coordinating all activities envisaged under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. He will lead the apex committee and review the output of other committees established for different subjects relating to the state reorganisation.
He will head the State Reorganisation Cell relating to the allocation of employees. He will liaise with the central government and statutory entities having a role with the state reorganisation work as per the work assigned by the chief secretary.
PV Ramesh, principal secretary (finance) who has been assigned additional responsibilities as the ex officio principal secretary (GAD-SR), will be the convener of the apex committee and assist the chief secretary and the principal secretary (SR) with the work relating to the state reorganisation as assigned to him from time to time. He will also assist the chief secretary/principal secretary (SR) in coordinating day-to-day activities relating to the general administration (SR) department.
He will be responsible for preparation of guidelines, instructions, conduct of meetings, drafting of minutes, follow-up action and other activities, including matters relating to employees allocation and other state reorganisation issues based on the instructions of the chief secretary /principal secretary (SR).
K Ramakrishna Rao, special secretary (finance); Jayesh Ranjan, APIIC managing director; B Venkatesham, AP Housing Corporation MD; and N Siva Sankar, secretary (political), GAD; who have been assigned additional responsibilities as ex officio special secretaries of general administration (SR) department, will perform the functions pertaining to the departments allocated to them. They will provide necessary support to the sectoral/subject committees and assist the departments with the reorganisation related tasks.