[intro]Andhra Pradesh administration turns into ‘Governance in Musical Chairs’.There is an element of tension, a bit of romance,a stream of fear, minutes of joy making it a perfect script to make a Big B’s hit movie like Bombay to Goa.[/intro]
Hyderabad : It is one of its kind of a story of ‘governance in musical chairs’ running for the last six months: while people are trying to catch up with the officials, in turn, officials are trying to pace in tandem with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other ministers.
The chief minister has been running the show from Vijayawada and vowed not to come to the Secretariat in Hyderabad. But, the administrative head for all the practical purpose of the state governance, and the Chief Secretary I Y R Krishna Rao remained stationed at Hyderabad, as the portals of power is yet not shifted to Vijayawada.
Thus, the running of governance from Hyderabad and Vijayawada, and officials shuttling between the two has all the elements of Big B’s hit movie, ‘Bombay to Goa’. “There is an element of tension, a bit of romance, a streak of fear, minutes of joy that makes the running of governance of musical chairs for the last six months a hit script to make a movie,” said a senior official in a lighter vein.
Sharing his feelings, a top Babu said, “Sometimes we will have to rush to Vijayawada from Hyderabad on short notices to attend the review meetings of the chief minister and ministers. If we choose to fly, then we will have to reach the Shamshabad Airport in Hyderabad an hour ahead of our flight’s departure time. But, to reach the airport it takes one and half hours. The travel time is about 40 minutes to one hour. Again, after reaching Vijayawada, it another 40 minutes journey from Gannavaram Airport to the Chief Minister’s camp office in Vijayawada. So, most of us have given up going by flights as travelling by road is a straight three and half to four hours journey,” he said.
But, when you prefer to travel by road lot of things come along, just like in Bombay to Goa movie. Sometimes, there is tension when your vehicle gives trouble and when you got in an endless waiting in traffic jams on national highway on the outskirts of Vijayawada. At times, while you are on the move, you get a phone call, asking to bring a specific file and information related to it. There were times when someone traveled half way had to take a return journey to Hyderabad, to fetch the file and reach by morning to Vijayawada. All the while and till the file is reached it was tension moments for everyone in the team, said another head of the department.
Feelings of another official of a deputy secretary rank, Seshagiri Rao (name changed) are note worthy. For, he entered into government service with lots of hope to do something. But, lately he realized, that the way things happen in government has no scope to satisfy his creative juices in serving people. So, many a time, whenever it is possible, he looks into the waters of Hussain Sagar Lake visible from the windows of his office, brooding and lost in his thoughts, asking himself, why can’t he go back to his native town Guntur and do something meaningful.
But, “my wife is working in a private college here in Hyderabad. My children are studying. So, I could not decide on anything,” He said. However, bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has come as a blessing for him and he is waiting for his turn to go back to Vijayawada.A travel buff to the core, Rao shares his feelings. Generally we start in the evening by a vehicle to reach Vijayawada by road. There were times, when it was raining heavily we stop at a road side Dhaba located on the national highway, to take a sip of hot tea and spending sometimes looking at the endless chain of passing of vehicles. Soothing waves of fresh air coming from the fields and touching you from the opened window of your car is what he enjoys while travelling from Hyderabad to Vijayawada at night, he adds. Further looking into future, he also dreams about having an office on a high rise abutting the Krishna River and to enjoy while working in Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s vision of a new peoples’ Capital, Amaravati.
But, on a serious note, several of these officials admit that the functioning of government turned into a game of musical chairs. Generally, it was the most important files that come to the State Secretariat. But, many a time, as the officials are shuttling between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, hundreds of files in departments like education, labour, youth and employment, agriculture, revenue, excise are piling up.“When a file reaches to a section officer the secretary is engaged in review meetings at Vijayawada. If both are present, then the HOD some other official need to give his opinion might be absent. This is how things are happening at present. And, unless and until the administration is completely shifted there seems no change that we can expect,” said a senior official from the revenue department. But, as the infrastructure is not yet ready at Vijayawada to shift the secretariat and other HOD offices, and since the employees have asked time till June, 2016 to shift from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, the governance in musical chairs is expected to continue for another six to seven months, feels another official from the General Administration Department.
