Why Andhra and Telangana are not off to a good start

Even though Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrasekhar Rao have been sworn in as the new CMs, the allocation of IAS officers has not been finalised, owing to which files are not being passed. This has affected governance, reports Vicky Nanjappa.

When they campaigned, they had promised to fulfil their election promises quickly and vowed swift governance. However, days after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were sworn into office, the administration has come to a virtual standstill. They haven’t been able to pass a single file. The reason: the bureaucratic officials are not clear on which state they are working for.

According to official sources, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are facing a major crunch in terms to Indian Administrative Service officers and their allocation owing to which a single file has not been moved since the two CMs took oath.

Officials say they are confused as they don’t know for which state they are working. Officers allocated to Telangana say they are working from the K L and H blocks, which are under the Andhra Pradesh state. These officers are yet to shift to the buildings allocated to the Telangana state.

In all, 44 IAS officers have been allocated to Telangana. However, these allocations are provisional in nature. In fact, there are several more officers who are needed and this process is taking time.

According to officials, the 376 IAS officials have to be divided between Andhra and Telangana on a 58:42 basis.

Sources added that the slow pace of allocation is owing to the Pratyush Sinha committee. This committee was appointed by the central government to ensure a fair distribution of IAS officials. However, this has not been done till date and at the pace at which work is being carried out, another month or so would be required. The committee has to draft out a list of officials and then send the list to the prime minister for final clearance.

Till then, the working of the states will be affected and the promises made by Naidu and KCR will have to wait.