HYDERABAD: Mohammed Anwar (40), who works as a class IV employee in the revenue department in the Secretariat, is worried.
As the deadline for shifting of Secretariat staff to Amaravati is fast approaching, he is becoming restless thinking about his future.
The reason: Anwar, a native of Nalgonda district, does not want to move to Amaravati as this would force him to move away from his native Telangana State.
Hence, he has been petitioning Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments for transferring him to Telangana service so that he can continue in his own state.
This is not an isolated case. As many as 265 employees, who are natives of Telangana, are now facing similar problem in the AP Secretariat. They are not ready to move to Amaravati. Majority of the 265 staff are class IV employees, working as drivers and attenders. As they are of the view that their relocation to new capital would not only make them stay away from their native land, but also impose additional financial burden on their families, they have made it clear that they would not go to Amaravati.
About 50 such employees staged a demonstration in front of chief secretary’s block in the Secretariat here on Wednesday, demanding that they be absorbed in Telangana service.
“We will not go to Amaravati. Both the governments should come to an understanding and resolve our issue,” Anwar said.
According to sources, no decision on TS nativity employees working in AP has so far been taken by the TS government. For now, the TS government reportedly refused to accommodate them in its Secretariat. Its argument is that if it accommodates Secretariat employees, then it will have to face the similar situation with regard to another 1,800 TS nativity staff, who are working in various Heads of Departments (HoDs).
“The AP government is ready to relieve us but TS government is not giving any written assurance to AP. This is creating problems for our transfer to TS service,” Telangana Nativity Employees’ Union president Venkateswara Rao told Express.
He warned that if their issue was not resolved, they would intensify their agitation. “We would coordinate with employees working in HoDs and take up agitation. We are not ready to go to AP. We are even ready to take legal recourse,” he said.
“We want both the governments to take steps to relieve us from AP and accommodate in TS,” Venkateswara Rao demanded.