2 Months before Retirement, Chief Secretary PK Mohanty plays politics for an extension!

Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary PK Mohanty is at the centre of the storm on Friday when he played spoilsport with the President’s plan to get the AP Reorganization bill tabled in AP assembly on it’s first working day. He also defied the Deputy Chief Minister and ignored calls of several Ministers and MLAs to move the copies of the bill from Secretariat to AP Assembly for distribution. Obviously, the CS was working as per Chief Minister’s plan to delay the bill. He seems to have finally yielded only after the CM gave his green signal. However, observers see a pattern in his Anti-Telangana actions and are not surprised looking at his actions in recent past.

Even while the GoM was finalizing it’s recommendations, there was news as to how PK Mohanty is the preferred babu for the Andhra establishment to head the bureaucracy of residuary AP, due to his vast experience, which would come in handy for building the residuary AP State’s infrastructure, especially the new capital. It is interesting to know that Mr Mohanty is due for retirement on 28th Feb 2014. It was foregone conclusion that he would get an extension to continue in service after the retirement date. In light of that, it is not surprising to see his pro-Andhra actions, which, if otherwise, would ‘kill’ his extension plans.

In fact, his report to GoM, as the serving Chief Secretary of AP was completely biased and atrocious. He suggested bringing HMDA limits in the state capital under Delhi-like Union Territory. He also suggested that 37 villages in Khammam district be made part of Seemandhra along with Bhadrachalam mandal. He also suggested Telangana has to part with Munagala mandal in Nalgonda. He also recommended acquisition of 1,00,000 acres of land for creating the new capital for the residuary AP at a single place, with the central government bearing the entire cost of acquisition, which is estimated to be around Rs 5,00,000 crore, a recurring grant of Rs 50,000 crore per annum for a period of 10 years for developing necessary infrastructure for the new capital, special packages for the development of industries in Rayalaseema and north Andhra regions. He also suggested defining status of non-locals and reservations for them in both states, right now in GoM recommendations. His report primarily reflected Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s views on contentious issues and explained in many ways how bifurcation would be impossible. It, however, stopped short of opposing the division.

When confronted with the accusations of bias, his close associates were quoted by the media as saying -
“It is not fair to attribute motives to bureaucrats whose job is to present facts, supported by documentary evidence. Unless the factual situation is presented, the GoM on Telangana will not be able to address the concerns in both Telangana and Andhra regions in the draft State Reorganisation Bill judiciously and ensure peace and harmony in both the regions even after bifurcation.”