Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s insistence on shifting of the government from Hyderabad to new capital Amaravati soon is expected to put heavy burden on the treasury.
The state government wants relocation of all departments to temporary capital being raised at Amaravati by June 15 lock, stock and barrel. With contractors, L&T and Sapoorji & Pallonji, gearing up to finish construction of the temporary capital, the state government has started persuading the IAS officers and government employees to vacate Hyderabad before deadline.
Nobody is really serious about moving to Amaravati now as the temporary secretariat is coming up almost in ‘wilderness’ at Velagapudi in Guntur district. The place would have nothing but the huge structure surrounded by largely uninhabited empty space. If shifted the employees and officers would have to live either in Vijayawada or in Guntur, where the sudden influx of about 10,000 to 15,000 families is being seen as a great opportunity to extract heavy rents.
What worrying the employees and all India service officers more is the absence of social life at Amaravati. The sudden influx is going to put heavy pressure on the entertainment facilities whatever available at Vijayawada and Guntur and it is bound to make leisure and social activities expensive.
The absence of own house, separation from the family during week days, non-availability or expensive social life are forcing the employees and IAS officers demand commensurate compensation from the government to relocate themselves to what they term ‘Amaravati wilderness.’
” Many officers and employees are from age groups of fifty plus which is a crucial time in one’s life with regard to taking care of children’s educations and marriages. Living away from family at this age for two or more years, leaving everything at Hyderabad, would seriously disturb the plans of families. Besides, at this age, leisure and recreation form the crucial components for balanced and healthy life. Leisure time is the time when you do what you want to do away from work. Normally this is reserved for attending family commitments with a sense of personal autonomy. If you are away from family and keep joining them at weekends, it removes the personal autonomy from your life and psychological pressure the idea of leaving for your work station the next day exerts on your mind body, would be heavy,” said a senior IAS officer, who is in the rank of special chief secretary in Andhra Pradesh government.
This situation forcing the senior officers and employees to demand heavy compensation from the government. All are demanding a five-day week, so that they could spend two days with their families, who are left behind at Hyderabad. 30 per cent HRA for their stay at Amaravati. Similarly, a compensatory special shifting allowance. This was conveyed to the government in a meeting with municipal minister P Narayana. Now the All India Service (AIS) officers too want enough compensation. They want a special train run between Amaravati and Hyderabad twice in a week. The officers association is said to have conveyed this to state chief secretary SP Tucker. ” The officers work from Monday to Friday and would make themselves unavailable for two days -Saturday and Sunday. They want a special train to facilitate their journeys between Amaravati and Hyderabad so that they could spend the two days in Hyderabad without bothering about the seat availability in the regular trains or buses,” the official told telugu360.com.
According to the officers’ plan, they would leave Vijayawada on every Friday at 4 PM and start their return journey every Monday morning at 6 am in Hyderabad. These trains , they said, should be exclusive operated for the officers and employees on Friday and Monday.
Would, workaholic chief minister Naidu give his nod to this proposal, which effectively shuts the government down for two days?
Would Naidu, who is used to conduct review meetings late into night tailor his work-style to in such a way that he calls it a day before 4 pm on every Friday?
