VIJAYAWADA: After asking the consultants working on the capital city project to demobilise and dispense special pay allowance to all its employees, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) is said to be in the process of restructuring its staff as well. In what could be seen as a cost cutting exercise, the authority has asked various departments of the Amaravati Development Corporation Ltd (ADCL) to justify the presence of existing number of employees.
Sources said that the Authority has been downsizing its outsourcing employees for the last couple of months and put on hold renewal of the contracts for a few. “We were asked to give justification for continuing with the existing staff. A few were shown the door recently. Discussions are going on for a few weeks now. We will submit a report after which the APCRDA may hold another meeting next week to take the final call,” an official explained.
The official added that the authority was positive to continue with the required number of staff. The ADCL has 43 officials on deputation from government departments, 102 contract employees and several other outsourcing staff, who take care of greenery projects and security-related aspects of the Corporation.
One of the major reasons for the authority to go for staff restructuring is said to be due to most of the capital works almost coming to a halt. Sources in the APCRDA reasoned that it was not pragmatic to continue spending when the works weren’t progressing. “The works haven’t been moving forward. We are already cash-strapped. So we are resorting to austerity measures. We are not going to unilaterally terminate the services. Of course, we will hire more people, if and when required, once the works resume,” another official added.
However, some employees are disgruntled at the way things are progressing. “We are not asking that our services be continued indefinitely. All we want is to be told in advance if we are being let go. The authority has to honour our contract rules of notice period. If we are asked to go unceremoniously, then we will have nowhere to go,” a few employees opined.