Division may undermine spirit of sharing

HYDERABAD: With still several days to go before the official bifurcation of the state, the split between employees of both regions seems to be getting wider and concerns abound over petty conflicts in shared workspaces.
One of the first to express the concern was Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who shot off a missive to the governor voicing his fear over the sharing of administrative premises like the Secretariat."The sharing of the Secretariat premises could affect the smooth functioning of governments," he wrote, adding that in the absence of alternative arrangements, separate entrances should be provided for employees of both regions.
Employees now say that though friction may be curtailed with the allocation of separate blocks for the two governments, tiffs are still likely at locations which the employees will have to share. Already there have been a few cases where petty quarrels have broken out over the use of elevators and phones, which were earlier witnessed during the heights of the Telangana agitation.
Meanwhile, some branches of the government will have to share the same buildings post division too. For instance, the building proposed to house the tourism corporation of residual AP is undergoing renovation, which will take two months to finish. "The portico, lifts and the parking space will have to be shared. We fear this arrangement could lead to more friction between employees of the two regions," said a senior official at the AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). In the existing APTDC office in Himayatnagar, two floors each have been allotted to Telangana and residual AP.
The Telangana employees of APTDC, under the aegis of Tourism Corporation Telangana Udyogula Sangam, has also made representations to the chief secretary and the governor against allowing the sharing of tourist hotels to house interim government offices. "Paryataka Bhavan in Begumpet is proposed to be used as a government guest house for both Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh. If this happens, there will be revenue losses for Telangana, which is backward in terms of tourist amenities compared to Andhra," said P Ramakrishna of the association.
Besides APTDC, other institutions where employees are expected to share premises include Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and Civil Supplies Corporation.