Hyderabad: The bureaucracy in Telangana appears to be in standstill mode. It has been close to three months now that 23 IPS officers and 27 IAS officers were promoted to senior ranks, but they are yet to be given their new postings and as a result continue to work in the same posts as before their promotion, something that is quite unexpected.
Officials say that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been subtly reminded about the inordinate delay in transfers on more than two occasions, but nothing seems to be moving, which is leading to frustration among the bureaucrats.
Government sources told Deccan Chronicle that it was widely believed that once the Kaleshwaram project was inaugurated, the transfer orders would be out. But that did not happen. There-after, the issue of construction of a new Secretariat and proposed demolition of Errum Manzil and the related legal issues kept the powers-that-be busy.
“The proposals for the transfers have already been finalised and once the Chief Minister approves it, the orders will be issued. It is just a matter of convening a short meeting with the top officials concerned,’’ sources said.
It was on April 22 that the 27 IAS and 23 IPS officers were promoted to senior ranks. Among the IAS officers, two officers of the 1988 batch were promoted as Special Chief Secretaries while the 2003 batch IAS officers were promoted to the ‘supertime scale category’. The government also promoted 2010 and 2015 batch IAS officers.
With regard to the IPS officers, the 1994 batch was promoted as Additional DGPs, the 2001 batch officers to the rank of IGs, and the 2004 and 2005 batches as DIGs. Seven IPS officers of the 2006 batch were also promoted to the senior scale.
“A majority of them have been retained in the same posts and though we thought this was a temporary arrangement, it seems to be continuing that way for the last three months. Once we are promoted, we would like to be shifted to the posts on par with our ranks. But there is no word as to when the transfers will come. The buzz is that it should come any time, but this is something we have been hearing for the last three months,’’ one of the officers who was promoted told this newspaper.
Most of the officers who have been promoted have already completed two years or even more in the post and are looking forward for the shift following their promotions.
“Once we get our promotions, the tendency is to look forward to working in a senior post. All of us have been in exit mode (from the present post) on the day we got promoted,’’ said one official, adding that what is the purpose of promotion if they are to continue in posts meant for junior ranks.
Besides ongoing issues like the construction of a new Secretariat, officials feel that the powers-that-be are devoting more time to politics, with the heightened activity by the BJP under the leadership of Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy.
