The civil services officials in Telangana are unhappy at the concentration of power in the hands of three IAS officers. Interestingly, all of them are from Bihar. These three officers are virtually controlling the levers of power in Telangana. Some disgruntled officers have said that they were totally demoralised at the complete domination by the officers from Bihar.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar is from Bihar and seems to trust the other two Biharis – Sandip Sultania and Aravind Kumar. Besides being the chief secretary, Somesh Kumar is also handing three key departments in the Telangana secretariat. At the same time, Aravind Kumar is handling the all-important Municipal Administration and the I and PR wing. He is also doubling up as the commissioner of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.
Sources say that hundreds of files are lying pending in the HMDA as the commissioner is unable to clear them due to workload. In addition, he is also the commissioner of the Telangana Urbad Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation for the last three years. All these positions make him extremely powerful and he is said to be having the full support of a key minister in the KCR cabinet.
As for Sandip Sultania, he is handling nearly eight key departments. The departments he is handling are: panchayat raj and rural development, higher education, primary education, power. He is the MD of the Telangana Power Finance Corporation, CMD of T Transco and T Genco, incharge CMD of Singareni Collieries and CEO of the SERP. Sources say that a senior IAS officer has proceeded on long leave in protest against the centralisation of power in the hands of a few. The chief minister is said to have done literally nothing to salvage the situation.
