First they refused to move, and now they are all queuing up to `get out’ of Telangana as fast as possible. A week after CM Chandrababu Naidu increased the retirement age of government employees to 60; all of a sudden hundreds of Andhra-origin employees, who have about two years of service left, have expressed their desire to work in residuary Andhra Pradesh.
While they have alluded to an overwhelming desire to reside near the Bay of Bengal or live the rest of their lives in their familial home, according to officials, most of the 800 applicants are hoping to work for two more years under the Naidu’s government.
Understanding the benefits, many Telangana government employees, some due to retire within months, have landed in Hyderabad and have applied for change in the state of their posting, with parallel requests made to MPs, MLAs and ministers, to see that they are budgedto Andhra Pradesh.
Though two officials tells that they wanted to move to their inborn place in Nellore only to settle near the sea, a number of officers have said in their application that they wanted to be close to their children, who are working in Andhra Pradesh.
With time running out before distribution of staff between AP and Telangana commences, those retiring in the next two months, are stepping up to department heads with their request to shift them to AP.
“They fear that once the distribution is done, moving to other state may not possible. We know most of their reasons are fake. They want to avail the two-year age relaxation for retirement but in the process coming out with vague reasons,” said a senior official.
Baffled department heads have now knocked on the doors of Telangana chief secretary Rajiv Sharma, who too has not been able to take a judgment as the department of personnel and training has only allotted 9,893 employees to Telangana against a demand of 45,000 employees.
“Some of the key sectors, including power and irrigation, have already been affected due to shortage of staff. If we allow some more to go to AP, governance could get affected,” said an official of the Telangana government.
Around 3 lakh employees who are on the rolls of the AP will benefit from Naidu’s step to raise retirement age.