AP Secretariat at Amaravati is sporting a ghost look these days. Confusion over shifting of the secretariat to Vizag and the Covid scare has led to the officers, including the IAS officers, staying at home. Most IAS officers are working from their home and are passing instructions over telephone to their subordinates.

According to sources, some officials are working from their camp officers, while some are working from the HoD offices. The remaining officers are working from their homes. As a result, the attendance of the lower level and subordinate staff too is quite low. In fact, even Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy too is operating from his camp office and has not visited the secretariat in a long time.

It has also come to light that barring one or two officials, most of the women IAS officials are working from home. These officials have not visited the secretariat in a long time citing Covid situation. The Chief secretary is said to have taken a serious note of the situation and has decided to take up the issue with them.

Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das has reportedly broached the subject of the absenteeism among the employees, including top officials and is said to have suggested to YS Jagan to attend the secretariat at least occasionally to instil some fear among the officials. Responding to his suggestion, YS Jagan reportedly told Adityanath Das to ensure that all IAS officers, departmental heads and the staff members should attend to their offices regularly from August 16. Accordingly, the chief secretary has issued orders to all the departments to attend their offices without fail from August 16.