HYDERABAD: AFTER successfully compelling the state government to extend the duration of the process of relocation of the Secretariat staff to Amaravati till the August-end, the government staff working in Hyderabad are now planning to form a joint action committee (JAC) to exert pressure to stretch the ‘shifting process’ to at least ten more months.
Some leaders of the government staff working in Hyderabad are taking the initiative to unite various associations of government employees to set up the JAC. “We are not against moving to the new capital. But the shifting process should be done in a way that no employee would face any problem in Amaravati with regard to infrastructure and basic amenities. We, therefore, urge the government not to be hasty while shifting the staff,” Ch Krishna Prasad, a leader of employees working in the civil supplies department, told Express.
Expressing a similar view, AP Gazetted Officers’ Forum president AB Patel said that a majority of the staff working in Hyderabad were worried following the move to shift even the HoDs to Amaravati by June 27.
“The government had earlier told us that HoDS will be shifted after the relocation of Secretariat staff. But now, without notice, the government has ordered the staff to move by June 27. This is making the staff working in all the 120 HoD offices in Hyderabad anxious,” he said.
Against this backdrop, some employees working in the Secretariat and HoDs are making all-out efforts to form a JAC to pressurise the government to extend the entire shifting exercise by 10 months.
As a prelude to this, on Saturday some employees of labour, irrigation, forest, health and education departments held a meeting at Anjaiah Karmika Samkshema Bhavan here and formulated an action plan on how to exert pressure on the government.
Since the government has already dropped hints that it will not shift the Secretariat staff to Velagapudi till the ‘Interim Government Complex’ is fully ready, the staff working in various HoDs too on Saturday decided to call on chief secretary SP Tucker to urge him to extend the deadline set for HoDs.
“In fact, the chief secretary was supposed to meet us today (Saturday). Due to illness he is on leave. We hope to meet him on Monday to convey our concerns,” a leader of the employees said.