A month was completed by the state of Telangana which came into existence on June2, but virtual recognition, mainly in the central government’s online space, continues to evade India’s 29th state.
A random check showed that most central government departments have not included Telangana in their list of states. For instance, Form 49 A of the Income Tax department, used for obtaining Permanent Account Number (PAN) by thousands on a daily basis, even now has no `Telangana’ option on its drop-down menu. Therefore, those hailing from the 10 T-districts will at this time have to choose Andhra Pradesh as their home state.
Cooking gas suppliers like Indane are too among those who are yet to upgrade their state lists. If one living in Hyderabad or other parts of the state wants to apply for a new gas connection, one has to mention the state of residence as AP.
Whereas, Hindustan Petroleum (HP Gas), incidentally, does provide separate Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (New) options, it puzzle new consumers by showing another option _ Andhra Pradesh (Old).
Other key wings of the central government like the Indian Railways.
The railway online booking portal, IRCTC automatically enters the state when an applicant enters the pin-code. Entering a Hyderabad pin-code will result the system automatically entering AP as the state with no choice to change it to Telangana.
Likewise, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts the All India Services Examinations has not included Telangana in any of its registration forms.
D Rakesh Reddy, RTI activist, said, “It’s nearly been a month since Telangana was created. It is observed that those wings of the government which have professionally functioned (like ministry of corporate affairs and the passport disbursal system) have been early adopters. When these systems have been changed there is no reason why other departments have not made changes.”