HYDERABAD/VIJAYAWADA :FINALLY chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has had his way by making government employees fall in line on shifting to the Secretariat in Velagapudi in Krishna district by June 27.
After Naidu spelt out his resolve to government employees’ leaders when they met him in Vijayawada on Friday, they got busy persuading their colleagues to shift or face the ire of the government.
Almost getting an earful from the chief minister, the employees now have dropped their idea of forming a joint action committee (JAC) to fight the relocation to coastal Andhra.
“The chief minister warned us against setting up a JAC. He even threatened us with disciplinary action if we make any statements against his plans. We are not ready to revolt against the government at this juncture,” one woman employee told New Indian Express.
Interestingly, AP Gazetted Officers Forum president A Vallabhbhai Patel, who headed that delegation to the chief minister, told this newspaper that as the local status issue has been resolved by the Centre, a majority of the employees are now willing to move to Amaravati.
“Employees have begun scouting for houses to rent in the new capital region. Even though there is no urban social infrastructure in Velagapudi and government departments are unable to find suitable office space in the capital region, the staff are now unwilling to risk the displeasure of the government,” he said.
IAS officer L V Subrahmanyam, who has been asked to look after the durbar move in place of the ailing Lingaraj Panigrahi, will begin the task of preparing the road map for shifting along with chief secretary S P Tucker.
Both Subrahmanyam and Tucker are expected to hold meetings with the heads of departments on Monday to prioritise the departments that are to be relocated to Velagapudi.
SIX STEPS TO VELAGAPUDI
STEP 1: Each department sets up a committee to identify who will move first and who will remain in Hyderabad
STEP 2: General Admin Department (GAD) releases a road map for each department for the move to Velagapudi.
STEP 3: GAD notifies the office space allotted to each department in the temp Secretariat.
STEP 4: Departments start the process of packing up files, material and furniture.
STEP 5: Staff get seven days casual leave to get ready.
STEP 6: Files (both physical and digitial) will be trucked to Amaravati with police escort.