In a bid to appease the protagonists of a separate Telangana state, the Andhra Pradesh government has ordered the repatriation of 2,938 non-local policemen working in Hyderabad to their home districts or employment zones in the state within the next 12 months.
Home Minister K Jana Reddy told the State Assembly during question hour on Saturday that as many as 2,305 civil policemen and 633 armed reserve police personnel would be transferred and posted in their respective local areas -- that is, native districts or zones -- in a phased manner.
Jana Reddy said the Principal Secretary of the home department issued the orders three days ago asking the director general of police to make arrangements to repatriate all the police personnel appointed against the quota meant for locals before the deadline of March 2007 and make concurrent appointment of "local replacements".
He said these orders were issued in pursuance of the state cabinet's decision to implement the recommendations of Girglani Commission in toto. The commission was constituted to look into the violations of Six-Point Formula, Presidential Order on Public Services and GO Ms No. 610.
The SPF was evolved by government of India in 1973 as a political settlement with state leaders following separatist agitations that rocked Telangana and coastal Andhra/Rayalaseema regions in the late 1960s and early 70s.
Presidential Order on Public Services, issued in 1975, lays down norms for appointment to government jobs with the idea of protecting the interests of local people in each of the state's three regions. GO Ms were issued in 1984 for identification and repatriation of non-local public employees working in violation of the SPF and the presidential order.
In its voluminous report, Girglani Commission, inter alia, identified over 3,000 non-locals working against the quota meant for locals in the Hyderabad City Police Force alone. Accordingly, 65 police personnel have already been repatriated to their native districts and zones.
Principal Secretary, Home, issued the memo to the DGP who, in turn, would issue his own executive order to the city police commissioner to implement the memo.
The memo made it clear that there should be no mass transfers and the shifting should be done in proportion to new recruitments, which are underway.
The home minister said the government would issue another memo in due course, ordering the repatriation of non-local sub-inspectors and inspectors working in the state capital to their respective zones. He said certain issues would have to be sorted out before taking up the exercise.
Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy assured the House that the Congress government would implement the Girglani Commission report in toto. "It is our commitment and responsibility to do this. We will take all the necessary steps in this regard," he said and asked the home minister to convene an all-party meeting to clear any misgivings among the political parties on the issue.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which is spearheading the movement for a separate Telangana state, asked the government to constitute a Legislature Committee to oversee the implementation of the Girglani Commission recommendations.
The chief minister assured the House the government would constitute such a committee if the Girglani Commission made a recommendation in this regard.
The government issued the fresh memo for repatriation of non-locals even as Congress legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions petitioned the chief minister against implementing the report of the Girglani Commission. They demanded that Hyderabad should be declared a free zone and the employees from coastal Andhra/Rayalaseema working in the city should not be repatriated.
On the other hand, Congress MLAs from Telangana region joined hands with TRS, Telugu Desam, Left parties, Bharatiya Janata Party and Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen in demanding that the government implement Girglani Commission recommendations effectively without succumbing to pressures from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema lobby.