Andhra Pradesh bifurcation: Staff awaits guidelines

Hyderabad: The Centre-appointed Kamalanathan Committee’s draft guidelines for distribution of government employees between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states are yet to see the light of day. Though the guidelines were supposed to be issued on July 4, it did not happen even on Saturday. There is no clarity over when these guidelines will be out.

Telangana employees association leader A. Padma Chary alleged that the committee has been deliberately delaying the decision with an intention of continuing Seemandhra employees in Hyderabad under pressure from some influential Seemandhra politicians and officials.

After meeting the chief secretaries of both the states on June 30, Mr C.R. Kamalanathan informed the media that the guidelines will be posted on the websites of both the state governments and objections will be sought for two weeks.

He said the committee will examine the objections and draft final guidelines, which will be referred to the Centre for approval, based on which the distribution of staff will be made. Over 53,000 employees from both the states have been eagerly waiting for the guidelines.

They are anxious over whether they will be allotted to AP or Telangana, and what would be the criteria to determine their nativity. While the committee already made it clear that options would be given to the employees of both states, Telangana employees are vehemently opposing it.

Official sources said the disparity in retirement age of government employees — AP recently raised it to 60 while it is 58 years in Telangana — has caused new problems for the committee, which led to the delay.

The Seemandhra employees, who constitute a majority in higher-level posts, are unwilling to work for Telangana due to lower retirement age. Telangana employees who were opposed to working for the AP government right from the beginning are now having second thoughts as they weigh the benefits of higher retirement age, if given an option.

The committee is in the process of modifying some of its draft guidelines and this is cited as reason for the delay in issuing them. The committee is thinking of not to give option benefit to those who are set to retire within two years.