AP GAD circular on staff shifting creates stir

Hyderabad, Oct 28: It looks like Andhra Pradesh government is sticking to the June 1, 2016 deadline to shift its employees to Vijayawada. In this connection, AP's General Administration Department (GAD) is reported to have issued a circular late last evening giving three dates as options to the government employees to shift from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. As per the circular, employees were directed to choose one of the following three date options: 1) Those staff agreeing to shift to Vijayawada in the first phase should do so by November this year; 2) The second option for the employees is to shift by the end of February 2016; and 3) Finally, the remaining employees will have to move to Vijayawada by June 1 of 2016. The GAD is said to have directed the employees to submit their preferences in a prescribed form latest by October 31 this year. Objecting to this, office-bearers of the AP Secretariat Employees Association and the Gazetted Officers Association met the Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao and urged him to treat the entire Secretariat staff as one unit and shift them only by June 1, 2016 and not in the phased manner as it will not be practical. Krishna Rao is believed to have assured the employee representatives that he will meet them on October 30 after discussing the issue with the government.